Film Review: Minari

Minari is about a Korean family making a new life in the US

 

When was the last time I saw a film? 

I saw a short documentary back in mid-November, but the last time I saw a film was probably about a year ago.

The 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival kicked off yesterday but not without controversy. 

Where the Wind Blows was pulled last minute

The opening film was supposed to be Where the Wind Blows and was pulled at the last minute by the film's owner for "technical reasons", a euphemism in China for censorship.

Starring Aaron Kwok Fu-shing and Leung Chiu-wai, Where the Wind Blows is about two resourceful detectives who forge dangerous alliances with organized crime in 1960s Hong Kong. 

As it is a joint production between a Hong Kong and Chinese companies, the film may not have received the proper approval on the mainland, or perhaps the subject matter was too sensitive with the portrayal of the police.

In any event, I watched Minari, the Golden Globe winner for foreign film (because the film is half in Korean and half in English) this afternoon at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre's Grand Theatre. 

Alan Kim plays David in Minari

Every person who entered the Cultural Centre building had to either scan the QR code on the LeaveHomeSafe app or leave their contact details at the door, and everyone had to wear a mask, no consuming drinks or food inside.

Then inside the theatre, several seats were blocked off here and there where people could not sit. 

Minari is about a young Korean immigrant family that moves from California to Arkansas, the father Jacob played by Steven Yeun, is determined to make something of himself. 

He buys a plot of land with a trailer home with the intention of growing Korean vegetables, but his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) is hardly impressed, and tensions flare up between the two.

Then there is the sub plot of the adorable son David (Alan Kim) and older sister Anne (Noel Kate Cho) who desperately want their parents to stop arguing.

Youn is a very famous actress in Korea

When their maternal grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) comes to visit, there's some comic relief, but also three generations of cultural differences are revealed that make the film endearing.

Director Lee Isaac Chung wrote Minari based on his own parents coming to the United States to make a new life for themselves.

In an interview with Time magazine, Chung says: "When my dad was in junior high, all these American films started to be introduced into Korea for the first time. My dad started to watch westerns at dollar cinemas in Seoul and felt like America was a miraculous place. 

"His family had lost a lot of land during the Korean War and the Japanese occupation. That affected him a lot as a kid. He always felt like he needed to come to the US and get land. It's an old Hollywood pioneer story he was working on."

Chung with his daughter during Golden Globes

For many immigrant children the story in Minari resonates deeply, the heated arguments about sacrifice and money, how to raise Asian children in the west, and feelings of isolation. 

The film has been nominated for six Academy Awards this year and hopes are high it will win big following the momentum of Parasite!

Chaos Continues on Sunday

Protesters carrying American flags as they march to the US Consulate

 

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's announcement on Wednesday didn't quite temper protesters' frustrations today. Tens of thousands marched from Chater Garden in Central to the United States Consulate on Garden Road.

Thousands of people descended on Central this afternoon

They completely blocked traffic and the surrounding areas. It is quite obvious people are not satisfied with just a formal withdrawal of the bill, as expected.

Many waved American flags as they asked Washington to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in support of the protesters.

However, the rally later became violent again, with protesters trashing Central MTR station exits, setting a fire along Pedder Street, in front of The Landmark shopping mall, and digging up bricks along the sidewalk.

Is that really necessary? We understand the frustration of the MTR having to kowtow to Beijing, but trashing MTR stations doesn't achieve much, except create more damage that us taxpayers will have to shell out.

Several exits in the Central MTR station were destroyed

This is totally playing into China's narrative that protesters are rioters... this is not a smart thing to do.

Another propaganda initiative is having two daughters of tycoons speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday. Macau casino heiress Pansy Ho Chiu-king and daughter of Maxim's founder Annie Wu Suk-ching are giving a speech on behalf of the Hong Kong Federation of Women, a pro-government organization that will present its political views on the protests that have impacted the city.

In their speech which was already released on the UN Human Rights Council website says: "The views of a small group of radical protesters do not represent the views of all 7.5 million Hongkongers. The systematic and calculated violent acts of this group have never been condoned by all Hongkongers."

Pansy Ho will speak at the UN Human Rights Council

Ho is chairwoman and executive director of MGM China Holdings in Macau, and a standing committee member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference. Wu is the founder of the first mainland-Hong Kong joint venture, Beijing Air Catering, and is also a standing committee member at the national level.

Since when do these two women, who are the top 1 percent of the 1 percent, represent the views of 7.5 million Hongkongers? They have no idea what it's like for a fresh graduate to earn HK$12,000 a month and have no prospects of ever being able to own a 300 square foot flat that's now at HK$5 million.

They only see the protests as impacting their businesses and not seeing how the political system needs a complete overall so that everyone can have one vote for the leader of Hong Kong.

An amusing respite tonight was when Cantopop star Aaron Kwok Fu-shing was caught up in the protests in Causeway Bay in his customized black matte Ferrari.



"I'm on my way to buy diapers for my daughter!" he reportedly told reporters and then inched his way out of the street.