A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resil... Read allA Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 122 wins & 245 nominations total
Youn Yuh-jung
- Soonja
- (as Yuh-jung Youn)
Jacob M Wade
- Johnnie
- (as Jacob Wade)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
The Rise of Steven Yeun
The Rise of Steven Yeun
"The Walking Dead" favorite Steven Yeun has recently had a breakthrough in critically-acclaimed films like Okja, Burning, and more recently he plays an immigrant adjusting to American life with his family in Minari. "No Small Parts" takes a look at his acting career.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWriter and director Lee Isaac Chung wrote in the Los Angeles Times about how he came to write this story. He was about to start teaching full time for the sake of his family and thought he would write one final script in the few months before the job began. Desperate for inspiration, he closed his eyes at his regular coffee shop and the words Willa Cather rang in his ears. Looking her up, he saw she was a novelist who wrote about life on the Great Plains, and he fell in love with her novel "My Antonia". He learned that Cather initially imitated famous novelists who wrote about city life, thinking her own rural experience wouldn't be accepted. She felt unfulfilled and then wrote successful rural stories that were true to herself. She said, "Life began for me, when I ceased to admire and began to remember." Reflecting on this, Chung said, "I wondered if the voice was leading me to these words, so that I would begin to trust in my own. As an exercise, I devoted an afternoon to writing my memories of childhood. I remembered our family's arrival at a single-wide trailer on an Ozark meadow and my mother's shock at learning that this would be our new home. I recalled the smell of freshly plowed soil and the way the color of it pleased my father. I remembered the creek where I threw rocks at snakes while my grandmother planted a Korean vegetable that grew without effort. With each memory, I saw my life anew, as though the clouds had shifted over a field I had seen every day. After writing 80 memories, I sketched a narrative arc with themes about family, failure and rebirth. That's how I got the idea to write 'Minari'; it began for me, when I ceased to admire and began to remember."
- GoofsModern cars are visible in one shot as the family drives through town.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Best Movies of 2020 (2020)
- SoundtracksTurn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Written by Helen Howarth Lemmel
Performed by and Courtesy of Bundang Woori Church
Featured review
Lee Isaac Chung is someone to watch
Most films that score high on my personal rating system include a moment where I'm compelled to pay attention. A moment where I say, "I'm in, let's go". One of the first scenes in Minari is of Jacob telling his young son that a man needs to find his place in the world where he can be useful. This is said as they watch the ashes of young roosters rising from an incinerator at a chicken farm. "I'm in."
Minari told a story I hadn't heard before. This is likely because it was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, whose own life was loosely portrayed in David- the young boy who watched the chickens burn with his dad. It's a story about a young Korean family who moves to Arkansas to start over. After a bumpy start, Grandma moves in. I won't say anything more about the plot, as not to spoil its uniqueness. More than most films about the American immigrant experience, this story is not just about the resilience of the immigrant, but the resilience of family. This is shown through its titular image, the Korean herb minari, an herb that is distinctly Korean and is able to thrive wherever it is planted.
It's an immigrant story through and through. I was excited to see that the film was done mostly in Korean, with only maybe 25% in English, further challenging western audiences to explore non-English films. The score, composed by Emile Mosseri (the same guy who composed the heartbreaking score for The Last Black Man in San Fransisco) captured this same theme with skill. The score was incredibly stylized, featuring an unmistakably western and eastern blend of musicality that I had never heard before. The music in Minari was a feature in itself, adding its own feeling to the story that could not be expressed in a screenplay alone. The screenplay, by the way, was a masterpiece that worked seamlessly with the score.
Perhaps my favorite part of the film was that I had no idea where it was going, and that's a good thing. I was able to pick up on key themes of the story, but not once did I find myself waiting for the next checkpoint of a cookie cutter narrative. Nor did I feel lost at any point. Rather, Chung had early on in the film earned my trust as a story teller.
Of all of the performances in the film, the standout was Yuh-Jung Youn who played Soonja the Grandmother. This is certainly the kind of performance I would anticipate being nominated for an Oscar. Hopefully we won't see another snub like we saw with Shuzhen Zhao last year in The Farewell. What made her performance so memorable was that most of her screen time was opposite seven-year-old Alan Kim. Kim was another of the brightest spots in the film. When the movie opened on Kim in the back seat of the car, the audience response was immediate affection. Kim was a natural. Stephen Yeun and Yeri Han also gave outstanding performances, making this one of the strongest cast ensembles I've seen in a very long time.
I hope Minari goes on to receive the critical attention it deserves, after winning the two biggest awards at Sundance. I'll be campaigning for it all the way up to award season next year.
Minari told a story I hadn't heard before. This is likely because it was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, whose own life was loosely portrayed in David- the young boy who watched the chickens burn with his dad. It's a story about a young Korean family who moves to Arkansas to start over. After a bumpy start, Grandma moves in. I won't say anything more about the plot, as not to spoil its uniqueness. More than most films about the American immigrant experience, this story is not just about the resilience of the immigrant, but the resilience of family. This is shown through its titular image, the Korean herb minari, an herb that is distinctly Korean and is able to thrive wherever it is planted.
It's an immigrant story through and through. I was excited to see that the film was done mostly in Korean, with only maybe 25% in English, further challenging western audiences to explore non-English films. The score, composed by Emile Mosseri (the same guy who composed the heartbreaking score for The Last Black Man in San Fransisco) captured this same theme with skill. The score was incredibly stylized, featuring an unmistakably western and eastern blend of musicality that I had never heard before. The music in Minari was a feature in itself, adding its own feeling to the story that could not be expressed in a screenplay alone. The screenplay, by the way, was a masterpiece that worked seamlessly with the score.
Perhaps my favorite part of the film was that I had no idea where it was going, and that's a good thing. I was able to pick up on key themes of the story, but not once did I find myself waiting for the next checkpoint of a cookie cutter narrative. Nor did I feel lost at any point. Rather, Chung had early on in the film earned my trust as a story teller.
Of all of the performances in the film, the standout was Yuh-Jung Youn who played Soonja the Grandmother. This is certainly the kind of performance I would anticipate being nominated for an Oscar. Hopefully we won't see another snub like we saw with Shuzhen Zhao last year in The Farewell. What made her performance so memorable was that most of her screen time was opposite seven-year-old Alan Kim. Kim was another of the brightest spots in the film. When the movie opened on Kim in the back seat of the car, the audience response was immediate affection. Kim was a natural. Stephen Yeun and Yeri Han also gave outstanding performances, making this one of the strongest cast ensembles I've seen in a very long time.
I hope Minari goes on to receive the critical attention it deserves, after winning the two biggest awards at Sundance. I'll be campaigning for it all the way up to award season next year.
helpful•31256
- mrjoshuahankins
- Mar 31, 2020
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Khát Vọng Đổi Đời
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,110,580
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $193,460
- Feb 14, 2021
- Gross worldwide
- $15,288,578
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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