MInari (2020)

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Score    This is one of the frontrunners, for sure.  It's got a decent shot at an upset for Best Picture, depending on how contrary the Academy is feeling.

Jacob (Steven Yuen) moves to rural Arkansas with his family in search of a new, better life.  His wife, Monica (Yeri Han), is not convinced buying a plot of land that nobody could make profitable is the way to go.  She's also concerned about how far away from a hospital they are because their son, David (Alan S. Kim), has a heart murmur.  To pacify her, Jacob agrees to move her mother (Yuh-Jung Youn) in with them from Korea.  David is not impressed with his new grandma, who gambles and swears and doesn't know how to bake cookies.  

This is a very specific coming-of-age, slice-of-life story and it was not meant for me.  I recognize that.  It's a very good movie, if you like those kinds of stories.  It's an important movie if you see yourself in any of these roles.  I don't.  If anyone, I totally empathize with the mom.  I, too, wanted the fuck out of my sleepy, Southern town and I didn't care who knew it.  But that's literally where the comparison ends.  And that is okay.  Everything is not meant for everybody and representation matters.

As a child actor, Kim is great.  Youn blew her performance out of the water, however, and handily beat the shit out of Glenn Close as a grandma.  Seriously, not even close.  Minari is what Hillbilly Elegy was trying to be and failed.

So now I'm going to get into some spoilery shit as I lay my case on what would have made this a perfect movie to me.  **SPOILERS  This would have been such a perfect horror movie.  You have all the elements:  isolated setting, fish-out-of-water family, Jesus-freak "helper", Old World/New World conflicts, Garden of Eden symbolism complete with a fucking snake.  Hell, there's a literal exorcism performed!  This could have been an Amityville Horror/The Conjuring meets Bedeviled, except better.  And they didn't do it.  Which again, is fine.  The writer/director wanted American Dream, not American Nightmare. Maybe next year.  **END SPOILERS.  Minari is currently in theaters (don't) and available to rent (for $20, highway robbery) on Amazon, Vudu, and Apple+.