A farm worker from Korea, Jacob left California with his wife and two children to buy a piece of land in Arkansas. He hopes to grow the vegetables of his native country and sell them to his compatriots, who have settled in large numbers on Uncle Sam’s land. While President Ronald Reagan extols the virtues of free enterprise, the young father firmly believes in the American dream. But his wife Monica, also an expatriate, despairs at having to live in a miserable mobile home, and is skeptical about the reliability of the project. Especially since David, their youngest son, has a fragile heart and they are far from a hospital. Distraught, Monica decides to bring her mother from Seoul to live under their roof.
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Deeply endearing
Taking an almost documentary look at his subject, American-Korean filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung weaves a moving and very personal intergenerational chronicle, largely inspired by the experiences of his own emigrant family, which earned him six nominations and a victory at the Oscars. He delivers a beautiful reflection on uprooting, disenchantment and multiple cultural identities, through the portrait of deeply endearing characters – particularly among the supporting roles: the neighbor Paul, a kind madman of God who lends a hand to Jacob in the fields; or Soon-ja (formidable Youn Yuh-jung), this funny grandmother who swears like a carter, and will tame little David despite the latter’s initial distrust. It is the old lady who brought back in her luggage seeds of minari, a Korean herb which will take root, as best it can, in the harsh soil of this adopted land.
