Minari - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year - Christina Oh (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Steven Yeun

Best Achievement in Directing - Lee Isaac Chung

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Youn Yuh-jung

Best Original Screenplay - Lee Isaac Chung (written by)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) - Emile Mosseri

A family whose father has big dreams moves to Arkansas.  They have been living in California with the parents working as "chicken sex-ers" and have also taken day jobs to do the same in their new small town.  (Chicken sexers are people who spend their days looking at baby chicks to figure out what gender the baby chicks are - a job that I, frankly, didn't even know existed.). But the father has also purchased a home with a field to create a small farm with Korean vegetables and fruits, counting on an idea that a growing Korean community in Arkansas would want access to their traditional foods with no local vendor to provide them freshly grown.  But the mom is not so sure about this idea, particularly because the town is quite far from quality medical care, and the small son has a serious heart murmur issue.  She invites her mother (who is a bit of a spitfire) to move in with them from Korea and now the family lives in an on-property trailer with three adults and two children.  

Minari is a story of dream-chasing, family relationships, and priority-setting.  This film has beautiful moments, gut wrenching moments, and everything in between.  It is the honest, funny, and sometimes tragic story of a family finding their place in the world.  It is about identity, but also about community.  At its core, it's about adult relationships and how people who love each other don't always actively value or invest in each other.  Minari is a quiet film and the acting (in two languages) is superb.  

While I doubt that it will win Best Picture, it's a lovely movie and I recommend it highly.

Watch the trailer here.