Mubi Monday: Minari (2020)

Although Minari is an American drama, it is all about the experience of South Korean immigrants trying to establish their life in the USA. Which means I may well get some of the name formatting wrong, once again, despite trying my best to double-check the details available to me.

Steven Yeun is Jacob Yi, Han Ye-ri is his wife, Monica, and they have two young children, David (Alan Kim) and Anne (Noel Kate Cho). They will also soon be joined by Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung), Monica's mother who will hopefully be able to look after the children while the hard work is done that should turn their house into a home, and also hopefully turn their land into something able to grow produce on. It won't be a smooth journey, but it will hopefully be a journey that the whole family experience together.

Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, based on his own childhood, Minari is one of those films that makes use of specifics and personal details to deliver something that feels universal and identifiable. While it's about the immigrant experience, and about the challenges facing them, it's also just about parents doing their best to ensure that each subsequent generation has a better starting point in life than the previous one. 

While the cast all do fantastic work, with young Kim being an absolute delight, and Yeun showing once again that he is yet to be given due credit for his many brilliant performances over the last decade or so, this is all about the delicate exploration of people who have to consider the value of the sacrifices made in pursuit of a better life. While there's a monetary cost involved, the more difficult moments come when loved ones may be negatively impacted by choices seemingly made for the greater good. 

As well as those mentioned, Will Patton delivers a great performance, portraying a Korean War veteran who believes that it's a great sign that he has been placed to potentially help the family. His character helps to highlight the ways in which the world keeps changing, and how it's very easy to find commonality with people simply hoping to make a good life for their family.

There's a lot of strain and stress here, and it's always clear that Jacob has gambled everything on this one place, and his plans for it, but Chung shows that the risks are, despite moments of doubt, worth the reward. The family is together, there are happier times lying ahead for them, and they can feel as if they have made some progress as soon as they decided to make their home in America. Whether sexing chickens, trying to find a good spot for a water well, struggling to sell any produce, or figuring out how to deal with health problems, Jacob and Monica are always motivated by family and love. And that counts for a hell of a lot, even in the face of overwhelming odds trying to fill them with doubt. 

9/10

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IF (2024)

I don't have anything against John Krasinski. I quite enjoy the work of John Krasinski, especially when he is onscreen in the right roles. But I was as surprised as most people when IF was marketed as being "from the imagination of John Krasinski". I didn't think that John Krasinski was known for his wild imagination. It turns out that I was right, and IF is actually the work of someone disappointingly unimaginative.

Cailey Fleming plays Bea, a young girl who is going through a hard time. Her father (John Krasinski) is in the same hospital where her mother lived her last days, she is back living with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) for a while, and may well have already left her childhood innocence behind. Until she meets the upstairs neighbour, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who is busy dealing with a load of personalities that nobody else can see. Well . . . nobody else except Bea. It's time to meet a string of Imaginary Friends (IFs) and figure out a way to reunite them with the adults who have long forgotten them.

The idea of IF isn't bad. It's not original either, of course, but it isn't bad. I saw the trailer months ago and figured it might be the kind of thing to keep me easily amused. That wasn't the case, sadly, and the blame lies squarely with Krasinski, who decides to go for the schmaltziest option at every turn, and plots the story out with a complete lack of that imagination that viewers were told about in the marketing. There were moments here that had me rolling my eyes and wondering how Krasinski could have thought he was filling the screen with great ideas.

Rules are established, but then thrown away as soon as it doesn't suit. Characters are presented with the sole purpose of being bright and weird (based on the idea of kid's creations, which I get, but you need more than that, especially with such an excuse to go as wild and whacky as possible), and nothing feels as if any one scene leads smoothly and naturally on from the one preceding it.

The cast aren't terrible, but some of them aren't half as good as they should be. Fleming is great in her role, and equalled by young Alan Kim, stealing the few scenes that have him portraying a child in the same hospital as Bea's father, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge once again proves to be an excellent pick for a voice role. Fiona Shaw is made to use some kind of accent, but overcomes that with her natural excellence, and Liza Colón-Zayas does well as a caring nurse. Reynolds isn't used well though, and feels very awkward for every minute of his screentime, and I was disappointed by the voice performances from Steve Carell, Awkwafina, Bradley Cooper, and many of the other stars lending their familiar tones to the many IFs. Some work, and Louis Gossett Jr. is a great fit for the kindly Lewis, but very few of them feel like the best fit.

There's enough here for children to enjoy, especially in a scene close to the halfway point that indulges in a musical fantasy sequence that certainly feels like the kind of scenario a child could easily create in their mind, and that may be enough to keep Krasinski happy. That may well have been his aim, and he'll view this as a success. Sadly, many others will feel disappointed. Some nice design work, a lovely score from Michael Giacchino, and the cinematography of Janusz Kaminski are all wasted on a film that suffers from being a self-indulgent doodle that Krasinski seems to want us all to metaphorically hang on our fridge doors.

3/10

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