This was one of the Best Picture nominees I was most interested in seeing, but circumstances made it the last one I was able to get to, sliding in with just a few days to spare. Like The Father, when the nominations came out, it was only available in theaters, and even then only in theaters 60+ miles from where I live. Not a problem during an ordinary Oscar season, but I haven’t been outside a 5-mile radius of my home since last March, and I’ve avoided being indoors in public places whenever I can help it. But with it finally available to rent on VOD, I was at last able to watch this beautiful film.
The Yi family moves from California to rural Arkansas, chasing father Jacob’s dream to own a farm. While Jacob works the land, determined to build something that will make his children proud, mother Monica is dismayed at their dingy new mobile home and their relative isolation out in the country. When her mother from Korea comes to stay with them, the feisty grandma sets out to bond with the children, especially son David.
I really loved this movie. The summary doesn’t really capture it – it’s very indie, very intimate and heartfelt, with some scenes that stretch out deliciously in their realism, others in which volumes are spoken without any lines of dialogue, and others that are filled with the immediacy of the strong emotions of a family that loves each other but, in the midst of their personal difficulties, are having a hard time accessing that. It’s just a great, wonderfully-specific portrait of a family, with each character trying in their own (frequently-misguided) way to make it work.
This is a film that’s a masterpiece of tiny moments, little things that resonate so strongly. I love Monica being moved to tears at her mother bringing chili powder and anchovies over from Korea, David speed-walking as fast as his little legs will carry him because he’s not supposed to run, and daughter Anne telling her grandma that the “mountain water” they drink (in reality Mountain Dew) will keep them healthy. The relationships just shimmer throughout, and the character work is so understated and yet so clearly drawn. I’m so glad that writer/director Lee Isaac Chung was recognized for both his directing and his original screenplay.
I always appreciate it when Oscar movies aren’t unrelentingly bleak, and while Minari definitely has some strong drama in it and some heavy things happen, there’s also a lot of humor, warmth, and hope. I love watching the members of this family start to reach out again after losing sight of each other, and I could watch David complain that “Grandma smells like Korea!” (cue Anne: “You’ve never been to Korea!”) all day.
All the actors here are superb. Steven Yeun is the first Asian American actor to be nominated for Best Leading Actor, and he’s simply wonderful as Jacob, a man so desperate to provide for his family that he allows his own drive to do so come between them. Also nominated is Yuh-jung Youn, up for Best Supporting Actress as the delightfully-coarse grandma. I feel like this is a character type that we see a lot (even if you look just as Asian or Asian American smack-talking grannies, I immediately thought of the grandmothers on Fresh Off the Boat and Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,) but something about this character feels really specific and lived-in, and Youn’s performance imbues her with heart. Alan Kim and Noel Kate Cho are delightful as David and Anne, and Yeri Han does beautifully-understated work in bringing out Monica’s story.
Warnings
Language, a little gross-out humor, references to corporal punishment, smoking/tobacco use, and thematic elements.
* * *
Okay, yes, I need to geek out more over Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the Shang-Chi trailer (apparently, rather than doing a separate write-up just about my anticipation for this movie, I’ve decided to sprinkle in a bit of nerdish glee wherever I feel like fitting it in.) Jumping off from my comments at the top of this post about movie theaters, I’m really, really hoping that I’ll feel comfortable enough to see a movie in a theater by September. If things are still a mess, I’ll gladly pony up the “premier access” fee to watch Leung’s Hollywood debut on Disney+, but I hope I can see it on the big screen. His filmography is such that, since getting into his work about 15 years ago, I’ve only had the chance to see him on the big screen once, in The Grandmaster. Seeing Leung in a Hollywood film is something that I’ve wanted for years, and the thought of that debut being a frickin’ MCU film is just everything I want. I really hope I can experience that moment in a movie theater.
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