7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A Korean family moves to Arkansas to start a farm in the 1980s.
Starring: Steven Yeun, Han Ye-ri, Alan Kim, Noel Cho, Youn Yuh-jungDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Korean: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Unless you are descended from some of the indigenous tribes that populated the North American continent for centuries before the "others" arrived, chances are your family has its own immigration story or stories, some of which have probably been passed down from generation to generation in order to help preserve a sense of history. Lee Isaac Chung's descendants will have the convenience of simply watching Minari to get a somewhat fictionalized version of Chung's own story, as Chung himself discloses in some of the supplements included on this new Blu-ray release from Lionsgate Films. If you caught the most recent Academy Awards broadcast (and some curmudgeons may joke that particular broadcast should have been a "catch and release" situation), one of the few highlights of the ceremony was the acceptance speech that the wonderful Youn Yuh-jung gave when she won the Best Supporting Actress category for her beautiful work in Minari as the focal children's grandmother. Minari is in some ways a simple, and perhaps even predictable, story, and yet it's so incredibly heartfelt and filled with telling detail that it really serves as a palette refresher for anyone who hungers and/or thirsts for a very real feeling dissection of one immigrant family's "adventures" as they try to fitfully chase the ever elusive American Dream.
Minari is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa Mini and a 2K DI as the relevant data points. This is a solid if intentionally gauzy looking transfer, with a nice accounting of a natural looking palette and very little if any outright aggressive grading (some of the interior scenes in the "double wide" have a somewhat yellowish tint, but that seems to be as much due to lighting as anything else). The outdoor material offers substantial fine detail levels on the fine, filigreed minari plants, and close-ups reveal excellent detail levels on fabrics and even facial features. There are some minor deficits in shadow detail in a couple of nighttime scenes, including one sequence that may indeed have been graded toward blue tones. I noticed no major compression anomalies.
Our specs for audio tracks only allow for one "main" language, and so the listing above showing both English and Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks is actually the sole track on the disc, which tends to ping pong back and forth between the two languages. There are forced subtitles for the Korean language moments, and optional English or Spanish subtitles for the rest of the presentation. Like the video side of things, Minari is often quite subtle in its sound design, but the evocative (Academy Award nominated) score by Emile Mosseri wafts invitingly through the side and rear channels, and the glut of outdoor material also provides nice opportunities for well placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free presentation.
Having recently reviewed Nomadland, which beat out Minari for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards celebration, I have to say if I were a voting member of the Academy, I probably would have given the statuette to this film. This story is sweet and in some ways unassuming, which probably only helps to amplify its significant emotional power. Performances are top notch, including the two very young performers essaying the roles of David and Anne, and the inimitable Youn Yuh-jung is a force of nature as the, well, transplanted Grandmother. Technical merits are solid and the few supplements included are enjoyable. Highly recommended.
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