On Wednesday, the trailer for Lee Isaac Chung's upcoming movie from A24 Minari, which stars The Walking Dead actor Steven Yeun, was released on YouTube.
Minari's IMDb page summarizes its plot simply stating that the film is about a Korean family who emigrate to Arkansas in the U.S. during the 1980s.
The trailer is split between English and Korean, showing some of the difficulties that a family coming to America from Korea would likely face, like trying to run a successful farm and assimilate into American culture.
Yeun plays the family's father Jacob. Yeri Han plays his wife Monica, and their child David is played by Alan S. Kim. The family's grandmother Soonja is played by Yuh-Jong Yuon.
At the beginning of the preview, the family moves into a small trailer in a rural town for "a new start," and Yeun proclaims, in Korean, that he's going to make a big garden.
While it can't be said for sure, the film will likely show a struggle between embracing a new American identity while maintaining a Korean one while living in a foreign place. In an early scene in the trailer, a young white boy can be seen staring at the family in a church, as the pastor asks the family to stand up and offers compliments.
As the family moves into the home, David's relationship with his grandmother is also shown as someone difficult. As his mother moves the grandmother's bed into David's room, Soonja remarks that "American kids don't want to room with their grandma," to which Monica replies that he's "not like that" and is Korean. Its interspersed with a scene of David saying, "But I don't like grandma."
At another point David tells his grandmother that she's not a "real grandma," because she doesn't bake cookies, and real grandmas "don't swear" and "don't wear men's underwear." The trailer ends with Soonja telling David he's a "pretty boy," which leads to him shouting "I'm not pretty. I'm good looking," before storming off.
Besides David struggling with his relationship with his grandmother, the trailer also shows some of the greater economic struggles that a family coming to America may also face. At one point Han's character tells her husband that she's worried about the family going broke. Yeun's character responds that he just wants to show his children that he can be successful. "Remember what we said when we got married? That we'd move to America and save each other?" he asks at one point in Korean.
There are also scenes that show Jacob's difficulties as a farmer, including the risk of losing crops. Between scenes of the family wandering around creeks and riding bikes, there's also shots of a burning toolshed and Yeun slumping in a bathtub. While the movie seems like it may show tender moments between the family, it also shows some of the hardships they face.
Minari's release date has yet to be announced.
