It feels like a lifetime ago, but the Sundance Film Festival was indeed this same year. And it was there that Minari, the latest film from director Lee Isaac Chung, cleaned up with the Grand Jury and Audience Awards in the Drama category. A24 picked up the rights and they aren’t messing around, dropping it right into the thick of awards season where they dominated last year with Parasite.
Starring Steven Yeun, who could’ve guessed getting killed off in The Walking Dead was the best thing to ever happen, Minari follows a Korean-Amerian family who move to Arkansas in the ’80s to try and start a farm and claim their piece of the American Dream. It’s an easy premise to latch on to, and speaks to the country’s cultural diversity at a time when we can use more movies about that.
The cast includes Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Scott Haze, Yuh-Jung Youn, and Will Patton.
Minari opens later this year, or very early next in order to qualify for the Oscars.
SYNOPSIS: A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
