Review | Minari movie review: Steven Yeun shines in Oscar-nominated Korean-American family drama
- Minari is a plant that is easy to grow can be eaten various ways. While Chung avoids symbolism, the plant’s resilience does act as a metaphor for the family
- The immigrant farming family, played naturally and superbly, are thoroughly convincing and demonstrate the idiosyncrasies of people in real life
4/5 stars
This story of Korean-American life is delicately framed, and focuses on telling a realistic story rather than making a general point about life in America.
The title, Minari, refers to a hardy plant which, the film’s grandmother explains, is easy to grow and can be put to a number of edible uses. While Chung stringently avoids symbolism, the plant’s resilience does act as a metaphor for the struggling family.
Based on Chung’s memories of the 1980s, but not autobiographical, the film is about a working-class Korean family who take on a small farm in the rural US state of Arkansas. Jacob (Yeun) moves his family to a grimy mobile home in a big field which he hopes to turn into a farm growing Korean vegetables to sell to Korean stores.
