There is something uniquely American about moving to a new place and starting over.
This trek can be filled with excitement, dread, but most of all, hope — hope that things will get better, and that what you want will materialize.
This hope marks Lee Isaac Chung’s Korean-American film, “Minari,” which tells the story of a young Korean family moving from California to rural Arkansas during the Reagan years. The film is partly autobiographical, as Chung based it on his own experience as a Korean American immigrant kid growing up in the Ozarks. Chung’s magic is in his translation of the specific to the universal. This juxtaposition of universal and specific is ever present, but subtle, as the viewer is captivated by the Yi family’s story.
“Minari” takes its title from an Asian plant known for its hardiness and ability to grow anywhere. This is a fitting metaphor for the Yi family, who are characterized by their strength and resilience throughout various trials.
Jacob Yi, the father, played by Steven Yeun, has worked for 10 years at a poultry farm sexing baby chicks. He has saved enough money to purchase a large plot of land in the Ozarks with a dilapidated mobile home on wheels. He has dreams to start a Korean vegetable farm on the land, and make money selling the vegetables to Korean immigrants.
His wife, Monica Yi, played by Yeri Han, is dealing with culture shock and overwhelmed at living in the middle of nowhere. Their children, older sister Naomi, and 7-year-old David, who struggles from a heart condition, are both excited and apprehensive about living in a new place, but unsure how to handle the tension between their parents.
To placate his wife, Jacob flies his mother-in-law, Soonja, all the way from Korea to live with them. Soonja is as unconventional as she is delightful. She curses, watches Korean wrestling, and plays cards. When David complains, “She’s not like a real grandma. She doesn’t bake cookies,” Soonja shrugs.
Part of the delight of “Minari” is watching Soonja’s relationship with her grandchildren evolve. Due to David’s heart condition, he is told over and over again by his parents, “Don’t run.” This frustrates David as he wishes to be a strong, rambunctious boy. Soonja encourages David by telling him he can do anything he wants, including run. At one point in the film, Soonja tells David he is a strong boy, and this championing gives David the courage he needs to manifest this strength. David becomes an American boy himself.
Chung tells the Yi family’s story with a characteristic gentleness. Many scenes are filmed from the perspective of the children, or if the viewer were looking through the window of the Yi’s home. Delicate shots of Arkansas grasses glowing in the afternoon sunlight give the film a dream-like quality. This gentleness softens the harsh themes in “Minari,” allowing humor to pervade the film and refresh the viewer.
At the end of the film, when Monica feels like giving up on her husband because they don’t have enough money to live, Jacob exclaims, “The children need to see their father succeed at something!” The agony in this statement reveals Jacob’s fear of failure and desire to take care of his family. Jacob’s resolve is cracking, but he still clings to the hope of a better life. Monica misunderstands Jacob’s drive, believing that he cares more about farming than his own children.
In one of the last scenes of the film, Monica finally recognizes Jacob’s dream is only a means to an end, and that end is to free his family from want. Monica then resolves to help her husband.
“Minari,” with all of its specificity, is a universal human story. It is an immigrant story. Jacob and Monica, David and Naomi, like others before and after them, struggle because of the hope of a better life—the hope of the American dream.