‘Minari’ hits home with compelling immigrant tale
The Golden Globes aired Sunday night, and of course, were full of surprises, both pleasant and shocking ones. At the end of the day, wonderful movies and shows, such as “Nomadland,” “Minari,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Queen’s Gambit,” went home with a few awards — well, they’ll get them delivered in a few weeks.
I’ve written about many of the now-winners over the past several weeks — I’m only recommending the best! — and today you’ll get a few more.
The best foreign language film winner — despite being the epitome of an American film — went to Lee Issac Chung’s “Minari.” When I first saw this film, it affected me in such a way that a movie hasn’t in quite some time.
“Minari” is the tale of a Korean family who moves from California to rural Arkansas to start over. Jacob (Steven Yeun) hopes to one day have his own farm where he can sell Korean produce to vendors and show his children what success looks like. However, his wife, Monica ( Yeri Han), doesn’t have that much faith or share that dream. Why leave California, she constantly says to her husband, to fail in a place like Arkansas? But Jacob never loses the dream.
This movie hit close to home, making me remember so many struggles my family and I encountered when we immigrated to the United States. Years prior to the move, my mother and father experienced the sights and sounds of wartorn former Yugoslavia, and they were separated
from their families. They hopped from country to country before we ultimately moved to Chicago.
During those first few years, there was a lot of hopelessness, sadness and struggles of starting over and building something new — very similar to what Jacob and Monica experienced. For Jacob and Monica, it was working in a hatchery and trying to build a successful farm business on the side. For my parents, it was working in cleaning services, trying to learn English and figuring out this new country they found themselves in. On top of that, they had to provide for a child who didn’t understand what was going on.
“Minari” also features a very sweet and complicated relationship between their son, David (Alan Kim), and Monica’s mother, Soonja ( Youn Yuh-jung). He has problems seeing her as a “real grandma” because she swears and doesn’t bake cookies. Over time, however, he appreciates his grandmother, seeing how great she is despite her unconventional ways.
When members of my mother’s side of the family eventually joined us in Chicago, like David, I looked at them and wondered why they were so different from the examples I had seen on television. My grandmother never had the chance to live the life she would have wanted for herself. She only ever got an elementary school education. She was married by 16 and had four children by the time she was 24 (one child died as an infant). She also never worked and earned her own money; instead, her life revolved around her family and making everyone else happy.
Today, I have a unique bond with her. As one of the few grandchildren who speaks Bosnian fluently, we share inside jokes with each other. It also allowed me to better understand her struggles. She’s different from other grandmas, but far more interesting than the ones I saw on TV.
Above all else, “Minari” shows the resilience and determination among immigrants. Jacob keeps fighting for the farm, despite so many obstacles getting in the way. I saw my parents doing what they could to make us succeed and we’ve definitely grown in our 24 years here — just like the minari plant.
“Minari” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
While the “Minari” win was not a shock, Rosamund Pike’s win in the best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical category definitely caught me off guard. But Pike is wonderful in any role, and her turn as a very despicable scammer in “I Care A Lot” was great, albeit cruel.
Pike plays Marla Grayson, a court-appointed guardian who seizes the assets of elderly people for her own financial gain. The system is definitely broken, and individuals who really don’t need help get placed into assisted living facilities, where they are given high doses of medication and lose contact with loved ones. She’s definitely not a character to root for.
One day, she comes across Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), a “cherry,” or prime candidate for her con, and is appointed her guardian by falsely testifying that Jennifer suffers from dementia and confusion. She moves Jennifer into assisted living and immediately sets to work selling her furniture, car and home. Unfortunately for Marla, she messed with the wrong woman, and her son (Peter Dinklage) is someone you don’t want to cross.
There are some really tough moments to watch in this film, knowing how broken the system is and how elderly individuals are treated. But focusing on just the performances, Pike and Wiest are excellent, both scary at times, making you wonder how far they can go to make each other’s lives hell.
I was expecting Maria Bakalova from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” to win the Golden Globe, but Pike was a pleasant surprise from the night.
“I Care A Lot” is available to watch on Netflix.