‘Minari’ blows reviewer’s mind
MOVIE REVIEW
by Yoo Jaetaik
LW contributor
Every human being has various difficulties and hardships in his or her existence. Thus, life is a procession of hardships.
This is why I appreciated and was inspired by the movie “Minari,” screened at the Amphitheater on Aug. 6. The protagonists immigrated to America to escape from the basic hardships in their hometown. The United States was a very new and different land to them. It gave them a dream, but the immigrant life was neither as easy nor fabulous as they expected. Patriarch Jacob Yi would quarrel his wife, Monica, about their different thoughts and troubles over their new life. Jacob eventually moves his family to Arkansas, where he intends to grow Korean produce to sell.
Despite the dramatic subject matter, the filmmakers did not miss the opportunity to include the funny moments of life. Monica’s mother, Soon-ja, tries to make their home happy. She communicates with her grandson with humor and course language, often exposing what the audience might be thinking. People often disguise their true feelings to keep face, so the role of the grandmother helped to lighten the heavy atmosphere, At one point, Soon-ja suffers a stroke and later accidentally sets fire to the barn holding the family’s crops. Though the loss of the crops hurts Jacob’s dream, he does not place blame on his mother-in-law. The family comes to accept the situation as destiny.
Jacob finds new hope from the herb called minari that grows where Soon-ja scattered some seeds. Perhaps other people might experience the same after viewing the film. It is still teaching life to me.
The film's family tries to realize the American dream.
