You
could have watched several K-dramas but you might not still acknowledge
that a real flesh and blood Korean family is nothing like in those
K-dramas. Flawless, mother-of-pearl twenty somethings who inhabit Korean
TV shows is a far cry from reality. Minari, is the first time I've seen
a depiction of a real-life Korean family on screen, ones who are not
funny 24/7 like the Kim family in Kim's Convenience. Although they are a
close second as far as authenticity is concerned.
Minari
proceeds as if a camera-man is following the daily life of a Korean-American
family in Arkansas boonies with a camera. The actors don't feel like
they are actors. The time period is early eighties and the family of
four - mother, father, daughter and son live in a trailer in the woods /
potential farm land and are later joined by their spirited grandma.
This movie like Joji I watched recently is also about subtle nuances,
where exceptional nuggets of everyday scenes are strung together to make
a visual poem.
Even
though the family is Korean, there is plenty of evidence and presence
of the rural Arkansas landscape the family inhabits. The water dowser,
the cross-dragging (only on Sundays, that is his church and penance)
Pentecostal neighbor and the chicken factory where the parents are
employed as chicken-sexers. While all the actors have done exceptional
jobs, I liked the wacky-ass grandma the best, the one who brought Minari
(a Korean herb used in cooking and medicine) and found a home for it
and made it thrive on the banks of an American creek.
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