Minari (2021)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

Trailer:

Release date: 2/12/21

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nominations!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Steven Yeun

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Youn Yuh-Jung

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Steven Yeun interview with NY Times Magazine

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Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Picture

Best Director - Lee Isaac Chung

Best Actor - Steve Yeun

Best Supporting Actress - Yuh-Jung Youn

Best Young Actor/Actress - Alan Kim

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Original Screenplay - Lee Isaac Chung

Best Cinematography - Lachlan Milne

Best Score - Emile Mosseri

Best Foreign Language Film

[SeanC]

It was great to finally be able to see this, after hearing so much discussion about it over the past several months (since its festival debut, even).

Really lovely film (certainly, among the major awards contenders this year, the most feelgood of the ones I've seen, which is most of them now).

I particularly liked the handling of the Will Patton character, because it's very unusual for a mainstream film to have a character like that who isn't either a joke or a villain.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I meant to do one of the screenings they had over the last few weeks, but now it's available on demand through amazon, itunes, vudu, etc. which is even better!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

15 hours ago, SeanC said:

I particularly liked the handling of the Will Patton character, because it's very unusual for a mainstream film to have a character like that who isn't either a joke or a villain.

I kept waiting for him to be revealed as sabotaging the water supply or doing something eeeeeevil, but he really was just what you see is what you get which was kind of nice.

[Evie]

I really enjoyed this film, probably my favorite out of the award contenders I've seen. As a fan of Korean dramas and variety shows, I was excited to see Han Ye-ri and Youn Yuh-Jung. I would definitely give it a best ensemble award.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe Award!

Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award wins!

Best Young Actor/Actress - Alan Kim

Best Foreign Language Film

[khyber]

Lovely picture.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awww, Alan Kim's acceptance speech:

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Producers Guild of America nomination!

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black

“Mank” (Netflix)
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

“Minari” (A24)
Producer: Christina Oh

“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein

“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

[ElectricBoogaloo]

GQ interview with Steven Yeun

Quote

Of course, in a place as white and retrograde as Hollywood, changing the notions of who gets let in and who gets taken seriously doesn't happen easily. Yeun is particularly thoughtful about this stuff, which has made him something of an ideal ombudsman on the issues of parity and representation, which crop up in sometimes strange ways. Take Minari, for example. It's a critically adored prairie film from a Colorado-born director that takes place in the South. It's as American as Baja Blast and “Dipset Anthem.” Yet instead of honoring the film in the best-picture category, the Golden Globes this year relegated it to best foreign picture, thanks to a byzantine set of rules that, in part, require a best-picture nominee to be “exclusively for English-language motion pictures”—which critics have pointed out didn't seem to apply to, say, Inglourious Basterds. In a way, the Minari controversy forced us to confront the thorny question about who gets to be seen as American—and more crucially who doesn't.

“I wasn't surprised,” Yeun said when I asked him about the Globes. “I have no desire to try to massage both sides in this situation, but it really just comes down to the idea that rules and institutions can never capture real life. And it can never really understand that what builds a place like America and what makes it great is all the people that are contributing to it.” Yeun said he views the Golden Globes slight—annoying as it is—as something of an opportunity: to open new doors, to put others on his back. “If this is the thing that helps to expand these institutions and rules? Cool,” he said. “That's why we make this stuff.”

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nomination!

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen
DEAR COMRADES! Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov
LES MISÉRABLES Ladj Ly
MINARI Lee Isaac Chung, Christina Oh
QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić, Damir Ibrahimovich

DIRECTOR
ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg
BABYTEETH Shannon Murphy
MINARI Lee Isaac Chung
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić
ROCKS Sarah Gavron

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NIAMH ALGAR Calm With Horses
KOSAR ALI Rocks
MARIA BAKALOVA Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
DOMINIQUE FISHBACK Judas and the Black Messiah
ASHLEY MADEKWE County Lines
YUH-JUNG YOUN Minari

SUPPORTING ACTOR
DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah
BARRY KEOGHAN Calm With Horses
ALAN KIM Minari
LESLIE ODOM JR. One Night in Miami…
CLARKE PETERS Da 5 Bloods
PAUL RACI Sound of Metal

Edited March 9, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Directors Guild of America nomination!

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari (A24)
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
David Fincher, Mank (Netflix)
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Picture
“The Father”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Mank”
“Minari”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7″

Best Director
Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”)
David Fincher (“Mank”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)

Best Actor
Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”)
Gary Oldman (“Mank”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”)
Olivia Colman (“The Father”)
Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”)
Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari”)

Best Original Screenplay
Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas, and Kenny Lucas (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”)
Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder, Darius Marder (“Sound of Metal”)
Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)

Best Original Score
“Da 5 Bloods”
“Mank”
“Minari”
“News of the World”
“Soul”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

[Empress1]

On 2/28/2021 at 5:47 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I kept waiting for him to be revealed as sabotaging the water supply or doing something eeeeeevil, but he really was just what you see is what you get which was kind of nice.

Me too. I was side-eyeing him the entire time.

I particularly loved the dynamic between the grandmother and the rest of the family. Her daughter is apologetic that they've brought her to this "hillbilly place," as she calls it, and the grandkids, particularly the grandson (who is an adorable child) resist the stuff she's brought with them. He resists her and she loves him fiercely. She's just like, I'm-a do me, and also I love y'all, and that's how it is.

My favorite moment was when the white kid at the church social asks David why his face is flat and David is like " ... It isn't." The delivery was perfect - he totally disarmed the kid.

The fights between the couple were so raw and real - you can tell they've been together, been through some shit, and know each other well. The moment when the kids were making paper airplanes that said "Don't fight!" on them was heartbreaking.

[GreekGeek]

I finally got around to seeing this yesterday (in an actual theater!) and loved it. It felt like a totally fresh take on a story of immigrants. I was not familiar with the actors, so they were a revelation to me. I knew there would be some sort of major crisis at the end, but otherwise the film didn't go to any of the expected places. I kept waiting for one of the church people to say or do something bigoted, but nobody did, other than the kid who asked David about his "flat face." And even they ended up being friends. Every time David got to running, I was scared for him, but he turned out to be OK. And I have no experience of Korean grandmas, but this one seemed a true original. Now I want to try minari.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award win!

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Youn Yuh-Jung

[SeanC]

Grandma takes the BAFTA as well, and gives the best speech of the night:

 

[Milburn Stone]

On 2/27/2021 at 12:48 PM, SeanC said:

I particularly liked the handling of the Will Patton character, because it's very unusual for a mainstream film to have a character like that who isn't either a joke or a villain.

One of many things I loved about this movie was that not just Will Patton, but every white character, was portrayed as accepting and friendly toward the family. It may not be realistic that every white character was, but neither would it be realistic that nearly every white character be hostile. Yet that's what we've been trained to see in movies. When I heard the premise, Korean family settles in Arkansas, I thought, "Uh oh." (There were "uh ohs," but about other things entirely.) Subverting this expectation was a refreshing move on the filmmakers' part. If not totally realistic, I suspect it was closer to reality than the common movie trope.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Milburn Stone

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Spirit Award win!

Best Supporting Female - Yuh-jung Youn

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Oscar win!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - YUH-JUNG YOUN

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Yuh-Jung Youn's acceptance speech

 

[Simon Boccanegra]

The most interesting thing I learned from those biographical bits that replaced the typical performance excerpts at the Oscars is that Yuh-jung Youn fell in love with the movies in large part from seeing the work of the writer/directors Robert Altman and Mike Leigh. Altman and Leigh are so obviously products of the environments in which they came up: Altman was such an American director (M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts), and Leigh was and remains as English as they come (Naked, Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake, Mr. Turner). Both of those guys -- who have made many movies I love too -- create films that are dense with dialogue, and she likely was experiencing their work through dubbed or subtitled versions. That they were powerful influences on her is a testament to the power of cinema, of great storytelling and vision, to cross boundaries. I'm reminded of Ang Lee's beautiful recollection (you can find it on YouTube) of seeing an Ingmar Bergman film as a young student and being transformed by the experience.

With such films as Minari and last year's Parasite, it can go in the other direction too. Some young person is being inspired by these filmmakers and may name them first someday.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra