It is a wonderful tranquility that makes Minari worth seeing. Lee Isaac Chung (Writer and Director) tells the story of the Yi family from South Korea, who moved from California to Arkansas. One of the reasons for this is that mom Monica (Yeri Han) is not fast enough looking at the chick’s buttocks… The movie gives an accurate explanation. In fact, Father Jacobs (Stephen Yun) has a lifelong dream of growing Korean vegetables in the United States behind the move. By the way, according to the Internet, Minari is a water fennel that is little known in the western regions. Grandma Sunga (Yoh Jung Yoon won an Academy Award) gets him involved in the movie – and he thrives on the outside.
Minari cannot do without such obvious metaphors, yet the story Chung tells is a new one. The problems that the family has to face are universal, and the origin of the parents is told easily and without cliches. The result is a jumble of memories, a family photo album, in which the good times are captured, but also one photo or another of moments that offend and hurt.
Written by Mariella Moshammer