So when the Golden Globes airs Sunday, this American film, written and directed by an American man about a family’s struggle on their American farm, will compete in a surprising category: the best film in a foreign language.
‘Minari’ is an American story in more ways than one
Lee Isaac Chung, Colorado-born writer and director of “Minari,” says he based many of the details in the script on his own experiences growing up as a child of Korean immigrants on a farm in Arkansas.
The film gets its title from the Korean name for a resilient herb. But there’s no question that the film’s vibrant, richly textured scenes tell a decidedly American story – from pastoral Ozark landscapes to rural church pews to the home of the Yi family.
About her books “O Pioneers!” and “My Antonia,” Cather once said that she had written stories inspired by her own upbringing after years of imitation of cosmopolitan New York authors.
“She wrote that her work took off when she stopped admiring and began to remember,” Chung told CNN. “And that’s what made me finally sit down and just jot down my memories. And that became the core of a movie.”
Why the movie’s Golden Globe nomination hit a nerve
The memories Chung weaves together in ‘Minari’ are something many Americans who grew up in immigrant families can relate to: the joy of a visiting family member bringing herbs from home, the struggles of several generations to connect, the pent-up emotions of parents risk everything to support their families, the faces of children trying to fit in.
It feels memorable to Yuen.
“Many of us are seeing our stories on screen for the first time,” she says.
So when news first broke that the rules of the Golden Globes would force “Minari” to compete in the “best foreign language film” category, it stuck.
For some, it was déjà vu over the previous year, when Lulu Wang’s 2019 film “The Farewell” was banned from the best comedy race of the awards ceremony because much of the film was in Mandarin Chinese.
“It’s great that these films are being made, but it’s terrible that they are classified in the foreign language categories,” says Yuen. “We shouldn’t be punished for telling different American stories that haven’t been told before.”
What the rules of prices say
The rules of the Golden Globes are not new. But some argue that it is a long time ago for the association to re-evaluate the criteria it uses for its prestigious awards.
“Today more than 350 languages are spoken in American homes. What does ‘foreign’ language mean?” Jimenez told CNN. “It’s a really important time for us as an American society to explore our own prejudices about movies like this, about stories like this, about immigrant stories – what does and doesn’t resonate as ‘American’ to people.”
“It has shifting implications in the industry for who is recognized and who is not,” he says. “It could have too much of an impact on their career trajectory.”
And important stories cannot be recognized – and unseen.
The director was concerned that he would have to make ‘Minari’ in English
For his part, the writer and director of “Minari” says he does not feel that competing in the foreign language film category dishonors the film or his work. But Chung says he understands the frustrations that many have expressed.
“I feel really torn about everything that has happened. It’s just the rules they have in that category,” he says. “These conversations are good … We’re starting to see that being American is being someone in this country – the picture of that is more complex than we often think. And I feel like movies should reflect that. Rules and institutions should reflect that. And it is good that we can have this conversation. ”
However, when Chung thinks about language and his film, something else comes to mind.
“My grandmother, if she was alive, she would be very proud,” he says, “that I persisted and did a movie in Korean and made no compromises and then started using that foreign language, English.”
Long before this controversy started to brew, Chung knew he needed to find money to make “Minari” – and he was concerned.
He wanted to tell the story in Korean. But he feared it would be difficult to sell – not to the public, who he knew would get in touch with a good story when they saw one – but to potential lenders.
So he also wrote a version of the script with more English in it, just in case.
Fortunately, says Chung, producer Christina Oh, who is also a Korean American, supported his vision.
“She was very adamant from the start that we should do this in Korean, as we grew up … She said as a producer she was going to defend that cause and fight.”
That meant Chung could show the world a story that reflects how so many American families live.