Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won a lot of awards all around the world. So, the movie business of South Korea was expected to grow more. However, due to COVID-19, fewer people visited the movie theater, and fewer movies were made. So, the movie business was weakened. Fortunately, Minari by Lee Issac Chung won the Best Foreign Film award by Golden Globe. Also, this can revitalize the movie business of South Korea.

▲ 2021 Golden Globe Award Nominees for Foreign Language Film

Before we talk about the impact of the award of the Minari, we need to know about Minari. Minari is a movie about a Korean American family seeking for the American dream in rural Arkansas in the 1980s. Moreover, this movie is semi-autobiographical by director Lee Issac Chung who is the second generation of the Korean American family. This movie is a very moving story. However, there was a controversy that this is not a foreign movie. Minari was made by US Firm, shot in the US. However, the director said that it goes deeper than any American language and any foreign language; it is a language of the heart.

▲ Poster of Minari

There are a lot of impacts on the movie business of South Korea. As I mentioned earlier, the movie business is undergoing a hard time all around the world, either South Korea does. For example, John Wick 4 or Matrix's new movie has been delayed because COVID-19 made it hard to make the movie. Moreover, although the movie released, people cannot watch the movie easily because of COVID-19. So, the movie business situation was getting worse and worse. However, Minari has won the Best Foreign Film of Golden Globe. This can be considered as a start to recover the movie business. This can lead to more investments. Moreover, more investments can lead to the recovery of the movie business.

Maybe someone can say that it is not a big deal. However, when considering the case of Parasite by Mr. Bong, Minari can recover the weakened movie business of South Korea.

March 13, 2021

By Seo Jun Woo