Movie Review: Minari

 

Note: I saw this film in a theater and it is so good to be back.

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A truly incredible and moving film that should be seen by every movie fan.

This film is a semi-autobiographical story from director/writer Lee Isaac Chung and his passion can be felt in every second of this wonderful movie. The story itself is rather simple revolving around a Korean-American family starting a farm to achieve their (or the dad's) American dream. This simple story is told to near perfection. This is often a quiet and rather reflective film letting us take in every inch of atmosphere and charm. This movie tends to focus mostly on the family themselves and the relationship they have with each other. These characters each have extremely well thought out personalities that all of us can relate to and understand. Even more interesting than the characters themselves is the relationships between them. The young son and the grandma share the best scenes that bring both the funniest and the most touching moments. The mother's relationship with the youngest son is both touching and heartbreaking. He has a weak heart and this has lead her to become overprotective and extremely affectionate. However a lot of what she says to him scares him rather than calms him down. The two kids also have a great relationship. The sister not only looks out for her little brother but he also is the person she most confides in. The parents are perfect examples of two people who love each other but have completely different ideas of how they should be living. Even the family's relationship with a man who works for the father is rather touching. It is these perfectly well thought out relationships that truly make this film special. However there is still even more to recommend about this movie. The film paints a very engrossing portrait of small town America that is beautiful but also far from idyllic. This film also does an amazing job of conveying the difficulties that many people in these situations have went through. Yet even through all the emotional moments this brings on, the movie is not overly depressing or not entertaining. The humor throughout this film is excellent and the audience I saw this with laughed heartily at quite a few moments (after so long away from movie theaters it was so joyous for me to hear an audience really laugh again). Yet the humor never takes the slightest bit away from the emotional moments. This is a truly a movie that will both make you want to laugh and cry. 

I could not recommend this film any more. If you haven't seen it yet go out and see it.