Oscar kvetch sesh part 2
Minari - Lee Isaac Chung ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Full of thoughtful and endearing performances, Minari sadly falls short of finding a voice all its own, owing mainly to its reliance on typical Hollywood storytelling and themes that often feel heavy-handed. I can't help but think I've seen the same plot points unfold in indie dramas for the past 20 years, and that's a shame when you've got a cast fully committed to making something special.
I've been thinking about "math plots" - the kind of carefully built but robotic stories that found their audience in the early 00s: Arrested Development in TV, Pixar in film, and fucking everything since. It seems you can't graduate film school or get eyes on your script without this sort of tidiness. Plot points and themes must be set up and paid off in a way that feels clever - as if stories are written in the order the movie is shot - and characters must act in service of these tricks. Something conceived with such richness as Minari doesn't benefit at all from this framework. You start to feel its humanity receding as the plot falls into place. The ending is particularly tidy in a way that reduces the characters to little more than chess pieces.
Not to rail too hard on this film. It has a lot to offer in its characters alone. In the smaller moments, the family's struggle feels true and deeply personal. I find I have more negative to say about things I *almost* love, projects I'm sad missed the mark, and that's definitely where I'm at with this one.
Full of thoughtful and endearing performances, Minari sadly falls short of finding a voice all its own, owing mainly to its reliance on typical Hollywood storytelling and themes that often feel heavy-handed. I can't help but think I've seen the same plot points unfold in indie dramas for the past 20 years, and that's a shame when you've got a cast fully committed to making something special.
I've been thinking about "math plots" - the kind of carefully built but robotic stories that found their audience in the early 00s: Arrested Development in TV, Pixar in film, and fucking everything since. It seems you can't graduate film school or get eyes on your script without this sort of tidiness. Plot points and themes must be set up and paid off in a way that feels clever - as if stories are written in the order the movie is shot - and characters must act in service of these tricks. Something conceived with such richness as Minari doesn't benefit at all from this framework. You start to feel its humanity receding as the plot falls into place. The ending is particularly tidy in a way that reduces the characters to little more than chess pieces.
Not to rail too hard on this film. It has a lot to offer in its characters alone. In the smaller moments, the family's struggle feels true and deeply personal. I find I have more negative to say about things I *almost* love, projects I'm sad missed the mark, and that's definitely where I'm at with this one.