Minari

• Movie
• PG 13
• Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
• Reviewed by Anonymous

Racial Representation: 5

LGBTQ+ Representation: 0

Disability Representation: 4

Body Size Representation: 3

Gender Representation: 4

Socioeconomic Representation: 5

Mental Health Representation: 3

Religious Representation: 1

Own Voice: Yes

This year at Sundance I was able to bump some vouchers off of a friend who was volunteering on the last week I could. I immediately knew I wanted to see Minari. I stood in line to get into any seats left, and then by my luck I was the very last person to get into the theater. I walked in and it was packed, I thought maybe they made a mistake letting me in, but I looked around and saw the last seat in the theater, directly in the center of the audience, where the screen swallowed me up and I really just got to experience something magical. This film is obviously about something I can’t entirely relate to, but it takes the steps and ideas to really get to something I think anyone can understand. It really gets to the humanity and heart of its characters for me to connect, literally. The child’s condition is something that hit hard considering my own struggles with a similar condition.

Above all I think it really gets to the core of our familial, communal, and societal issues and relationships. Director Lee Isaac Chung talked about creating this film after the screening, explaining how he took these stories from his own life, and its clear he has a clear grasp on the humanity of the pursuit to create our own futures and lives, rather than living with the worlds thrust upon us. The characters are set against issues larger than their own lives, and in this small setting in Arkansas they find ways to push through it and really live. It bears down upon us, and it never really goes away, but we can create some really beautiful moments in between. It is something greater than “the American Dream,” it is our capacity to adapt on every level as people, and it is truly moving.

Sources:

• Image