Criticism arises on racial discrimination against fim ‘Minari’

It has been pointed out that, although being a U.S. movie, "Minari,” featuring a Korean family immigrating to live its American dream in the 1980s, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Golden Globe. In collaboration with producing company Plan B Entertainment, a co-representative of which is Brad Pitt, Korean-American Director Lee Isaac Chung wrote a film scenario based on his personal experience.

U.S. entertainment magazine Variety reported on Tuesday (local time) that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) or the organizer of the Golden Globes eval‎uated and selected entry films, adding that "Minari” will compete for the Best Foreign Language Golden Globe. As per the HFPA rules, films with more than half of their lines spoken in a foreign language are categorized as an overseas production. As the Korean language is used for the most of the running time, "Minari” is considered a foreign language film, according to the report. 　

Senior commentator David Ehrlich of filming industry and review website IndieWire pointed that "Minari” is a U.S. movie, in essence, because it describes people coming to figure out what makes for being American while living around other Americans.

Actors of Asian descent in Western countries also express their criticism. Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim, who appears in U.S. TV series “Lost” with South Korean actress Kim Yun-jin, said sarcastically that it is no different from telling him to go back to his home country although he was born in the United States. Simu Liu, a Chinese-Canadian actor in Canadian sitcom “Kim's Convenience,” criticized that “Minari” cannot be more American because all its producers and actors are American.


Seong-Taek Jeong neone@donga.com