MINARI Director’s Daughter ‘Prayed’ For Golden Globe Win
By Movieguide® Staff
One of the few bright spots during this year’s Golden Globes came after director Lee Isaac Chung won best motion picture in the foreign-language category for MINARI.
After they announced Chung’s win, the camera cut to the director and his 7-year-old daughter, who exclaimed: “I prayed! I prayed!”
In Chung’s acceptance speech, he thanked his daughter, who hugged him while he spoke, and emphasized the importance of family.
“She’s the reason I made this film,” Chung said. “I just want to say that MINARI is about a family. It’s a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own. It goes deeper than any American language and any foreign language. It’s a language of the heart, and I’m trying to learn it myself and to pass it on, and I hope we’ll all learn how to speak this language of love to each other, especially this year. God bless you all, and thank you.”
A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
Set in the 1980s, MINARI is an autobiographical drama in Korean and English. Jacob Yi is a Korean immigrant who moves his family from California to Rural Arkansas to pursue his dream of becoming a farmer. However, the farm he’s bought only has an elongated mobile home for the family. Jacob’s wife, Monica, isn’t happy about this situation. The parents send for Monica’s mother in California to babysit their two young children while the parents work at a local chicken hatchery. The family’s plans are upset when the little boy doesn’t get along with Grandma and Jacob has problems getting water for his crops. More obstacles follow.
Despite a slow, meandering first half, MINARI picks up as happy and sad events start to impact the Yi family. The movie sneaks up on viewers with very touching and funny moments, including some positive Christian references. Thematically, MINARI is a wonderful, well-acted celebration of family. However, the movie doesn’t resolve the conflict between the parents. Also, MINARI has some foul language, scatological humor, and skepticism toward some religious behavior by the father and grandmother.
Movieguide® also recently sat down with Chung and the movie’s stars Steven Yeun and Alan S. Kim. Check out the interview below!
