After seven years as The Walking Dead’s Glenn, actor Steven Yeun left the AMC hit zombie drama and branched out further into the world of cinema. With notable roles in films such as Burning and Mayhem, Yeun has made quite an impression on audiences and critics alike. But his latest film, writer/director Lee Issac Chung’s Minari, looks like it’s another groundbreaking moment for Steven Yeun’s career, as well as for studio A24. Take a look at this emotional family drama in the trailer below:
Minari focuses on a Korean-American family who move to Arkansas, in hopes of starting a family farm to earn their living. However, that dream is complicated by everything from the condition of the land itself to the young son of the family struggling with conflicting ideals of family life. Just taking in this first look at Minari’s heartfelt drama, you can already tell that you’ll be crying by the end of the film, with both happy and sorrowful tears in the mix.
While the story of Minari looks like it’s set to put a good amount of focus on David (Alan Kim) and his relationship with his grandmother through the lens of both Korean and American values, Steven Yeun’s role as the patriarch of the family looks to be crucial to this theme. With his character Jacob dealing with some hard adjustments of his own, Yeun’s dramatic chops really get a workout in a family drama that feels familiar, but at the same time fresh and diverse. Though the family may be new, the tears will definitely be familiar.
One could imagine that Lee Issac Chung and his cast were more on the happy side of the crying spectrum when shepherding Minari through this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film looks like an absolutely emotional experience in the same vein of past films like The Farewell and Waves, which is a particular style of film that A24 accels at fostering in its ranks. On top of all of that promise is the fact that Chung’s picture actually won two pretty significant accolades at Sundance back in January, with Minari snagging both the Grand Jury Prize as well as the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award.
In a year where the awards race is still in the “your guess is as good as mine” phase, Minari is a product that’s set to break and warm hearts, while undoubtedly going for big time gold in the next voting cycle. So far, it looks like it’s going to be one hell of a movie to beat, as Steven Yeun and the ensemble he’s a part of look like they’re ready to help this film go the distance.
Minari doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it could be assumed that this film will be released either later in 2020, or early 2021, for awards consideration. As soon as we have an update on when you should expect to see this film, you can count on CinemaBlend to break the news as it develops; most likely on our frequently updated 2020 or 2021 release schedules.
