Brilliant acting by Steven Yeun (Jacob Yi) and Yuh-Jung Youn (Grandma Soonja) make Minari a delightful film to watch. Their performances are completely natural and draw you into the family without effort. My major complaint is the film is boring. With so much great material to work with why can't we be treated to a faster paced and more exciting experience? One of the kids has a hole in his heart and could drop dead any second; the Yi family is on the verge on bankruptcy and could break apart any second; the creepy hillbilly neighbors could decide to run them out of town any second. Yet, due to the glacial timing, we are left with a film that delivers you into a world of crushing boredom. You know you are in for a slow ride when the most exciting thing to happen in the first hour is the family's water is turned off for non-payment. At that point in the film it seems like a hugely exciting event, oh my, what will they do? The answer is they coped with it and hauled water from the nearby creek until they could get it turned back on, end of drama.
I was also disappointed in the ending. What happened to the Yi family? Did they cope with their misfortune or did they go back to California or even Korea? No resolution was even hinted at, much less delivered. Good performances and a good film if you love to watch good actors do their thing, otherwise booooring!
I was also disappointed in the ending. What happened to the Yi family? Did they cope with their misfortune or did they go back to California or even Korea? No resolution was even hinted at, much less delivered. Good performances and a good film if you love to watch good actors do their thing, otherwise booooring!