“Minari,” a small American independent movie which was released in South Korean theaters in the first week of this month, is a simple but sublimely intimate tale which amused and touched me a lot. Mainly focusing on one South Korean immigrant family trying to settle in the middle of Arkansas around the early 1980s, the movie has numerous genuine emotional moments of understanding and empathy; these precious moments are elegantly delivered by the unadorned but undeniably powerful narrative of this truly exceptional film.
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While it surely comes to us as a universal American immigrant family drama on the surface, the movie is also quite specific in terms of background and character. As a 38-year-old South Korean guy who has seldom left his country since his birth, I am different from its main characters in many aspects despite the common heritage. But in getting to know them more through the story, I observed them with considerable curiosity and interest. I frequently recognized those small but notable cultural elements glimpsed from them and their new American life, and this induced some knowing smiles and chuckles from me, in addition to bringing me a valuable understanding of the diaspora of Korean Americans in the 1980s.