Ever since its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival last January, Minari has been the talk of the town. Loosely based on director Lee Isaac Chung's own childhood growing up on his family's Arkansas farm, this endearing story follows a Korean immigrant family as they uproot their lives in California and move to the rural Ozarks in search of a better future.
Patriarch Jacob Yi (The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun) is determined to build a farm to grow Korean produce for vendors in big cities, while his wife Monica (Yeri Han) has trouble adjusting to their new agrarian lifestyle. Her mother Soon-ja (Yuh-jung Youn) arrives from Korea to help care for their children and soon forms a close—and often hilarious—bond with the youngest Yi, 8-year-old David (played by the scene-stealing Alan Kim, whose emotional acceptance speech after his Critic's Choice Award win went viral).
Minari is a quintessentially American story about the pursuit of the American Dream. And as Chung noted in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, where Minari took home the prize for Best Foreign Language Film, the movie "is about a family. It’s a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own."
The film is nominated for six Academy Awards.
Minari is recognized in six categories for the 2021 Oscars (the ceremony will air on Sunday, April 25 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC): Best Picture, Best Director (Chung), Best Actor (Yeun, who is the first Asian-American actor to be nominated in this category), Best Supporting Actress (the 73-year-old Youn, already a household name is South Korea), Best Original Screenplay (Chung), and Best Original Score.
"Never in my dreams did I ever think a Korean actress would be nominated for an Oscar, and I can’t believe it’s me!" Youn said of her nomination. "I am incredibly humbled by the honor."
Minari is now available on demand.
Shortly after its theatrical release in mid-February, Minari became available on video-on-demand on February 26. It's currently available to rent from a number of streaming services, including Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube.
Amazon Prime YouTube Apple TV Google Play Vudu
Editor
Leena Kim is an editor at Town & Country, where she covers travel, jewelry, education, weddings, and culture.
