"Minari": Looking for a common language in our hearts

Shortlisted for this year’s six Oscars, "Minari" directed by Zheng Lishuo, the plot depicts a Korean family embracing the American dream. His father Jacob (played by Stephen Won) is determined to pursue a dream new life and resolutely abandon everything in the big city. Moved to far away Arkansas, planning to build a farm of his own. Unexpectedly, the drastic changes in the living environment and interpersonal relationship made the family members unable to adapt. It evolved into life disputes between him and his wife Monica (played by Han Yeli), and their feelings gradually cracked. At this moment, the grandmother (played by Yoon Yoo Jung) from afar from South Korea moved to live with them; the grandmother who was addicted to gambling, was full of swear words, and did not play cards according to the card, although it became the nightmare of the little boy David, Surprisingly, the family that was on the verge of splitting recalled what it was like when they had their dreams in the first place, and gradually condensed the feelings between each other.

On the surface it seems that "Minari" is a film about new immigrants who took root in the United States. The protagonist Jacob tried to pursue his dream and bring a better quality of life to his family. However, like this film, it won the best foreign language film at the Golden Globe Awards. When the director gave a testimonial and explained the film, he said:

"This is a family movie. It is a family trying to learn and find a movie that belongs to their common language. It is more in-depth than the American language or foreign language, about the language of the heart."

Therefore, whether this film is a Korean movie or an American movie becomes less important. The difficulty of dreams is not in being in a foreign country, incompatible with the local culture and the surrounding personality, but in whether Jacob’s family is in the process of reaching his dream. Support him with all your heart? If not, how can he reconcile and coordinate to fulfill his promises and expectations to his wife? Did he abandon or lose something more important in order to fulfill his dream?

With a slow and gradual pace, the film shows us the various difficulties Jacob encountered in the process of dreaming, and how he gradually overcomes it with the help of wisdom and perseverance, and the help of others, and slowly approaches his ideal garden of Eden. However, the rift between Jacob and his wife gradually magnified along with the differences in their values. The director did not try to say anything for either party, but saw that every "word" they seemed to hold in each quarrel made sense, and he did not forget to bring them to the daily life of mutual support, such as Jacob's proposal to take his wife. The church, or the wife who worked so hard that Jacob could not stretch his hands to take a bath, could see that the two had a deep affection and love for each other, and they hoped that the couple would not divorce in the end. The technique used at the end of the film is indeed a little dramatic, but I think that although the fire burned out is irreversible, it also ignited the other invisibly, perhaps it was the love of the two, or a new hope for life.

Jacob muttered to his work partner's grotesque prayers and exorcism methods, and his disapproval of the Americans' method of finding water wells to the final willingness to follow, which coincided with the change in his son David's attitude towards his grandmother. The grandmother in David's eyes does not look like a grandmother. She doesn't know how to make scones, is full of swear words, and can only play cards, but invisibly inspired his life wisdom and became the closest big doll. The film echoes before and after the lines and the passages, making the details of life seem plain but not boring, smiling but warm and touching. Grandma’s alternative prayer for David the night before the stroke, contrasted with the improvement of David’s heart problems, and even ran fast, which gave the movie a magical and realistic taste, but it did not make the movie mysterious, and made people really feel it. A common language is slowly fermenting in the hearts of this family, I think that is love.

I think just as "August" is to Zhang Dalei and "The Time to Live and the Time to Die" is to Hou Xiaoxian, the semi-autobiographical "Minari" is also a work that Zheng Lishuo is going to shoot. As a person holding a camera, it seems more natural for the director to tell his story. However, as viewers, we may not have similar life experiences. How to connect with the director's story and resonate with the director seems to test the director's narrative skills. I think "Minari" really has a balance in this. Through the delicate lines, the soothing mirror movement and the soundtrack, the actor sincerely and sincerely interprets it. He shows the difficulty of dreaming, the hardship of life, but also captures To this family's warmest and truthful daily life, tell a good story plainly and without flamboyant skills. Regardless of his final Oscar gains, "Minari" will be an unforgettable movie I have watched this year, and I most want to recommend to my friends around me.