This year’s Glasgow Film Festival chose wisely with its opening film. Minari, Lee Isaac Chung’s incredible exploration of identity and family in 1980s Arkansas, won tremendous plaudits on its debut in Sundance. Glasgow saw the film’s UK premiere last month and it dazzled audiences on this side of the pond. Earlier this month the film picked up six Oscar nominations including Best Director and Best Actor for our two interviewees.
During the festival Thomas Alexander sat down (virtually) with Walking Dead alum Steven Yuen and Minari writer and director Lee Isaac Chung to talk about the incredible reception to film has seen around the world. Check out our interview below, and be sure to make time to see the film when it arrives home on the 2nd of April.
With this year’s Glasgow Film Festival coming to an end we reflect on its many highlights especially its opening film, Minari.
The now Golden Globe-winning and BAFTA nominated film, written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, is deserving of its praise with amazing performances across the board especially from Steven Yeun and Alan Kim.
The semi-autobiographical story follows a family who move to Arkansas to start afresh where Jacob (Steven Yeun) builds a farm to grow Korean vegetables as he pursues the American Dream but is faced with the highs and lows.
It is touching, multi-layered, and we were thrilled to chat with both Steven Yeun and Lee Isaac Chung to chat about this remarkable movie.
You can watch the full interview below:
Plot: A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas. Yearning to own a small patch of land and be more than a chicken sexer, the ambitious paterfamilias, Jacob Yi, relocates his Korean-American family, sceptical wife, Monica, and their children, David and Anne, from California to 1980s rural Arkansas, to start afresh and capture the elusive American Dream. However, new beginnings are always challenging, and to find out what is best for the family, let alone start a 50-acre farm to grow and sell Korean fruits and vegetables, is easier said than done. But, amid sincere promises, cultural unease, fleeting hopes, and the ever-present threat of financial disaster, Jacob is convinced that he has found their own slice of Eden in the rich, dark soil of Arkansas. Can grandma Soon-ja’s humble but resilient minari help the Yi family figure out their place in the world?
Watch Minari at home from April 2nd, to learn more information click here.
