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Reviews
Minari (2020)
An engrossing film about many things
In telling a story based loosely on his own childhood memories, Lee Isaac Chung has wrought a film that carries on a conversation throughout between the plight of a Korean family seeking security of a variety of sorts and a foreign culture that both supports and challenges them. If you watch the film without being aware of the conversation, you may find the story uninspiring and the ending disappointing.
The message Chung conveys by the end of the movie is quite straightforward: no matter how bad things get, there is always hope. Sometimes, hope comes in the form of a surprising medical diagnosis; and sometimes, it comes through a bunch of seeds that, having been planted, seem to take care of themselves until their produce is needed.
Let the story unfold; and pay attention to the Anglo characters and their interactions with the Korean protagonists. Their relationships are not incidental to the story Chung so richly offers us, even as brief as a number of them might be.
Film School Shorts: Lives in Limbo (2015)
Fascinating exploration of connections and their significance
Tin and Goldie are living their lives for themselves, looking for something more and frustrated because they haven't found it. In his seeking after answers, Tin follows the traditional practices prescribed by his mother of burning ritual money, so that his late father can buy what he needs in the afterlife. As he does so, he also asks for his father's guidance to help him find peace and confidence. Thinking that more money and winning a motorcycle race will fill the void in his life, Tin challenges another cyclist to a race; but the race ends abruptly when Tin's cycle crashes, putting him in a coma. In the process of recovery, both he and Goldie discover what has been missing in their lives and move forward together with a greater sense of purpose and joy.
The Question of Equality (1995)
Helpful history to 1995 production dates
This 4-part documentary was produced for public broadcasting by Testing the Limits for the Independent Television Service with funds provided by the CPB, Channel 4 in the U.K., and other funders. Aired by KQED, San Francisco. Each segment is about 55 min. long. 1. Out Rage '69 - Looks at key historical moments in the 1960s that sparked the formation of the gay and lesbian rights movement, including the Stonewall riots of 1969. 2. Culture Wars - Explores three key instances of anti-gay backlash - the murder of Julio Rivera; the release of Marlon Riggs' film Tongues Untied; and Oregon's Ballot Measure 9 - in the midst of the AIDS crisis and the gay community's response to these. 3. Hollow Liberty - Focuses on the federal laws and policies that effectively restrict the rights of gay and lesbian Americans and relegate them to second-class citizens, specifically the military's discriminatory history and the Supreme Court's 1986 Bowers vs. Hardwick decision. 4. Generation Q - Seeks to give an answer to the question of whether all that has gone before has made it any easier for the youth of 1995 to be openly gay or lesbian.