To download a PDF of the breakdown , go here. Edit Details To ask other readers questions about Minari please sign up . What do you think is the significance of Jacob hiring a dowser? It can be medicine if you are sick. David expects his grandmother to be able to bake cookies. Clip #1: Jacob explains how the male chicks are "discarded," and that means it's important to be useful. Official Screenwriting Blog of The Black List. All the films tension bubbles over into the heartbreaking but hopeful Minari ending. Cottagecore stems from the notion of going back to agricultural life and living in simplicity and harmony. I have been a life long lover of pop culture, especially television, turned that passion into writing about all things entertainment related. If . Do you think this is a positive or negative thing? You might also want to discuss some of the learning objectives or the concept of active viewing. Minari ( Korean: [minai], transl. A discussion guide is more than a list of questions. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR USE WITH ANY FILM THAT IS A WORK OF FICTION Select the questions that will work best with your students and promote your educational goals. Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, is a semi-autobiographical story about the Yi family. What do you think this statement shows about Jacob's motivations? It also frames the Asian American story as one story: the story of the triumph of being an American. A24. Rahzel runs into an old acquaintance in a small town where they quickly learn that a deadly new drug called "Text of Angel" has surfaced among the youth. Jacob sees the minari and says, It's growing well on its own." 1 review Get A Copy Amazon Stores Kindle Edition Published March 26th 2021 More Details. Why do you think so? All rights reserved. It speaks to the very human threads of hope, struggles, and perseverance. Introductions 10 minutes Introduce yourself, introduce the project, tell them . By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. When it comes to representation, its hard not to feel the lack of differences and experiences onscreen. Soon after moving to Arkansas with their son, David (Alan S. Kim), and daughter, Anne (Noel Cho), and taking on the monumental project of starting a farm, it becomes clear that the family needs extra help, so Monicas mother, Soon-ja (played by the wonderful Yuh-Jung Youn), moves in to help Monica take care of the kids while Jacob pursues his dream. Identify diverse social norms, including unjust ones. Underdog story of trying to make a dream come true. The book has little in the way of a conventional plot, but it still forms a cohesive whole. I only noticed how prevalent fire and, especially, water are in Minari because of the brilliant Bong-Joon-ho pointing it out in his interview with Lee Isaac Chung for Variety. The kids go to church so they can call their mother. This event has passed. Minari Panel Discussion Production company Motion Picture Association (MPA) See more company credits at IMDbPro Technical specs Runtime 25 minutes Color Color Contribute to this page Suggest an edit or add missing content IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data Learn more about contributing Edit page I will have a review for it coming soon, so be sure to stop back by to check it out, it will be linked down below. In a recent roundtable of Asian American directors in the .css-tjvzc4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;border-bottom:thin solid #6F6F6F;}.css-tjvzc4:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}New York Times, Chung, in response to the idea of making a film about Asian Americans, said, I intentionally wanted to make a film about this family and not make it an identity piece. At 49:44, there's a scene where David tricks Soonja (Grandma) into drinking his urine. Tony Minieri creates needlepoint designs, classes and custom stitch & thread guides for the needle artist. But sometimes, despite our best efforts, success remains elusive because of the things over which we dont have any control. The movie, partially based on Chungs life, is set in the 1980s. Discussion Guide 5.12.2016 Pie Digital | Fast Insight 1 Page 2 of 4 Task 1: General exploration, Dashboard Imagine that you recently installed an app on your phone that was going to help you with your home network. When I'm not writing about pop culture, I can be found channeling Gordon Ramsay by kicking people out the kitchen. Its a commentary on the future that the Yis might experience. Students will also reflect on how their own sense of identity has developed within their family and community -- including the impacts of culture and ancestry. I hear the American dream thrown around a lot [about Minari], and that could mean all kinds of things that I was intentionally not getting into with the movie.. Not everything that happens in Minari is a reflection of reality, but the film is the semi-autobiographical story of writer/director Lee Isaac Chung. Why do you think big events -- like birth, illness, death, a pandemic, etc. The movie taps into common family dynamics that most students will connect with,while complicating those dynamics through a story of migration and cultural displacement. Cookie Notice It could be a sculpture or diorama, a drawing, a poem that describes it, or a virtual one (using Minecraft, etc.). They fight. that made it especially memorable? But "Minari" finds its greatest strengths in its sincerity. It's a specific instrument. For Monica, his decision comes as an ultimate betrayal. What are Monica's? News & Media Literacy What do you think Jacob is feeling as he talks to David about the farm? New York, Just a few hours before, she'd been making him feel safe. The novel treats Robin's emotionally myopic, intense and furious obsession with the harm we are doing to nature as right, actually. It is hard not to crave the diversity of Asian American life. Her efforts inadvertently lead to the fire in the barn, which ends up multiplying her shame and self-loathing. I get why people want to assert the Americanness of stories about immigrants of color when their stories are perpetually excluded from the narrative of who gets to be an American. What are our options when our priorities are fundamentally different from a loved one's? Meanwhile, grandma Soonja (Youn Yuh-jung) faces a trash fire that becomes uncontrollable. Download. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Why or why not? People often fall into roles in families: The peacemaker, the comedian, the caretaker, etc. Fri, Jul 16, 2021, 8:00 PM PDT "Minari" Discussion Group Friday July 16. But Jacob had his own share of disappointments with their lives in the Golden State. What do you think is the significance of Jacob hiring a dowser? Promotions, new products and sales. Why? The discussion guide and lesson below will help students consider how and why characters in Minari act the way they do. It features a Korean family in rural Arkansas, and it's already received major recognition, including a Golden Globe Award. Minh Ngo (he/they) is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and student at New York University. Discuss. This week, we have been reading, analyzing, and discussing the script and movie Minari. What unfolds from there may read like a normative immigrant tale of three generational differences, but it felt much more unique than that. (1:23:41-1:24:58), Clip #14: Jacob takes his box of produce to the appointment with the doctor, which upsets Monica. This movie is set in the '80s. Jacob faces many challenges and setbacks as he tries to make the farm work, only to lose the crop in the fire. The doctors in California told Jacob and Monica that their son has a hole in his heart and will need surgery at some point. Does she find it at church? The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. Jacob (Steven Yeun) moves his family from a comfortable life in California to a small town in Arkansas. DISCUSSION GUIDES 1. Develop interests and a sense of purpose. Although he is done with that by the time the film opens, Monica has come to resent him for it. They frame the overall domain of insights you hope to uncover. While exploring their property with his grandmother and planting minari seeds, David gets to be a child for the first time in his life. Throughout Minari, hes been telling his grandma to go, but hes finally embraced her and wants her around. Minari is a story of the American Dream. choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. If you decide to help students delve deeper into the topic, you might show the entire film and have more extensive discussions over multiple days. Create a "farm" that represents the things that motivate you to learn and grow as a person. Use as few or as many clips as you see fit, but keep in mind that you may need to introduce the movie's overall plot and talk through some of what happens before or after each clip. For Part 3, to read the Character discussion, go here. Anne is a quiet force in the movie, taking care of David and trying to make things easier for her parents. Besides, he also said that before the final editing there was a scene showing she was alive. But thats too much for one film, one director, and one story to bear. -- can shift one's priorities? Without forcing emotions on the audience, it gives them the room to step back and see how these characters live their lives and go through growing pains. When the Yi family arrives, Jacob rushes to the barn to try to stop it, then he tries to save some of his produce. Jacob and Monica have long chased the American dream. The farm is located an hour away from the nearest hospital, and Monica believes that they are putting their sons life in constant danger by staying there. The growing minari also symbolizes hope for the Yi family to thrive in the future. Paul feels like a Mentor figure. They study film and television and are interesting in directing. You know your classroom and community norms best -- use your professional judgement to decide how you'll address these, if necessary. David leads dad down to the creek. After all is said and done, the fact Monica helps Jacob save the harvested crops from the burning barn is a sign she is still committed to the relationship. What are some examples to support your idea? Students will be writing down notes about one character's motivations. This was early December, and we were supposed to talk about Yeun's latest starring role, in "Minari," a film written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung about a Korean immigrant family that takes up. Thank you for signing up to CinemaBlend. Have students complete the After You Watch Activities. Here are some useful distinctions: Research objectives: Sometimes called "research questions," research objectives represent the goals of the research. You can also use these in conjunction with the longer lesson plan below. When his grandmother calls him a "pretty boy," he reacts defensively. Is Soonja what you expected? When we hear judgement about who we are or our circumstances that, until that moment, we've just accepted, how does it shape our sense of self? Please refresh the page and try again. We see this theme of strength played out with David's character. In an interview with Cinemablend, various cast and director Chung spoke about how minari is special because its a plant that thrives even in rough soil. Sign up theme of strength played out with David 's character into heartbreaking... Her efforts inadvertently lead to the fire we see this theme of strength out. 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