Minari (2020)

I regret that this entry has come so late. First I took a while to nudge Netflix for its unusual delay. Then I didn't make time for a review before my vacation, which ran longer than anticipated. And of course, I had higher priorities when I came back. Let's hope I don't forget any important details.

In 1983, a family of four, the parents originating from South Korea, moves to rural Arkansas. Having been poor in California, Jacob (Steven Yeun) hopes to make it big as a farmer, specializing in exotic crops like minari, which Americans call water celery among other names. His wife, Monica (Han Ye-ri), isn't nearly so gung ho about the move, not least because their young son, David (Alan Kim), has a heart problem and might need emergency care far from the nearest hospital. The parents make extra income with the same unglamorous work as before: separating male and female chicks for a hatchery. The plot thickens when Monica's oddball mother, Soon-ja (Oscar-winning Youn Yuh-Jung), moves in against Jacob's wishes.

Once again, I could tell from seemingly optional factors that the movie is semi-autobiographical, here on the part of Lee Isaac Chung. That would explain why the older kid, Anne (Noel Kate Cho), has nothing crucial to do. Heck, the actress doesn't even get a Wikipedia page, and her IMDb page is threadbare. I won't say she lacks acting ability, just the chance to show it.

I almost added a "foreign" tag regardless of the U.S. setting, because the family speaks a mix of Korean and English at home, with each generation using more English than the one before it. I also considered the "racial" and "politically incorrect" tags, because while the subject doesn't come up much, the kids' backwater peers clearly have no prior experience with Asians and are rather gawky toward them, albeit friendly enough.

Character flaws certainly abound. Not only does Jacob have a dubious fiscal plan, but his stubbornness leads to a nigh-abusive rift with Monica. Soon-ja doesn't behave appropriately around children. David...well, what do you expect from a single-digit boy? There's little welcome to be found at the hatchery, and other businessmen are seldom agreeable. Even the nice man who helps with the farm could easily rub one the wrong way with his hyperreligiosity.

One reason I've been slow to watch 2020 Best Picture nominees is that they're reputedly dreary. This one is indeed dramatic, and the A24 logo had me extra worried, despite A24 being only the distributor, not the producer. Mercifully, some of the seemingly telegraphed disasters didn't happen, at least not to the extent I was led to believe. The ending, tho hardly a resolution, is halfway hopeful -- also in keeping with a semi-autobiography.

What we get is generally low-key by Hollywood standards. As a result, I respect Minari but feel that it would be hard pressed to win the Academy Best Picture even in a weak year. If you don't love it, at least it shouldn't depress you.