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      Watch a Family Build a New Life in America in ‘Minari’

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      Lee Isaac Chung narrates an early scene from his Oscar-nominated film about Korean immigrants who move to rural Arkansas.In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.America as a land of promise, a land of hardship or a land of fun? All three perspectives are seen in this opening sequence from “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung’s drama about a Korean family that moves to Arkansas to build a fresh life in the United States. It is nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture.This sequence observes the Yi family (played by Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Noel Kate Cho and Alan Kim) arriving at their new home, a trailer in the middle of a field. Yeun’s character, Jacob, is proud and optimistic, while Han’s Monica is skeptical.In an interview, Chung said that the scene was in his mind when he first began writing the screenplay and that the story would grow from there, a kind of hopeful emptiness that would be filled in.“That’s why it starts off at a house where it’s not really furnished,” he said. “There’s not even any stairs there.”Then Chung explored the different family members’ perspectives through shots and dialogue, or the lack thereof. Jacob is the first character we see getting out of a vehicle. “I filmed that wanting to evoke the feeling of man getting off of his horse,” Chung said. Then in directing Han, he told her that her performance would often be one of reactions rather than words. “Everything she has to convey has to be through her looks, her expressions, her gestures,” he said. And with the kids, he told them to just “go out and have fun.” He tried to capture their performances in a documentary style to give the movie a more free-form and less staged feeling.Read the “Minari” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more. More

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      Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun Make History at the 2021 Oscar Nominations

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Awards SeasonOscar Nominations HighlightsNominees ListSnubs and SurprisesBest Director NomineesStream the NomineesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRiz Ahmed and Steven Yeun Make History at the 2021 Oscar NominationsFor the first time, two men of Asian heritage are up for best actor. Their films, “Sound of Metal” and “Minari,” are also up for best picture.March 15, 2021Updated 5:19 p.m. ETRiz Ahmed in “Sound of Metal.”Credit…Amazon Studios, via Associated PressSteven Yeun in “Minari.”Credit…David Bornfriend/A24, via Associated PressIt’s been nearly 20 years since a man of Asian heritage notched a best actor nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.But this year, for the first time in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards, there are two: Steven Yeun (“Minari”), who was born in South Korea and raised in the United States, and Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), who is a Briton of Pakistani descent. Both Ahmed and Yeun are first-time nominees.Their inclusion is especially notable because despite a spate of Asian-led films in recent years, including last year’s best picture winner, “Parasite,” the academy had failed to recognize the performers.Just two actors of Asian heritage have ever been nominated in the category: The Russian-born Yul Brynner (“The King and I”), and Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi,” “House of Sand and Fog”), whose father is Indian. Brynner and Kingsley each won the award once.Yeun and Ahmed have some tough competition: The other three nominees this year are Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), who won a posthumous Golden Globe for best actor in a drama, Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) and Gary Oldman (“Mank”).The New York Times’s co-chief film critic A.O. Scott called Yeun’s performance in “Minari,” as a Korean immigrant father who moves his family to the Ozarks, “effortlessly magnetic.” Scott praised his proclivity for finding “the cracks in the character’s carefully cultivated reserve, the large, unsettled emotions behind the facade of stoicism.”Ahmed won acclaim for his performance as a drummer who loses his hearing in “Sound of Metal,” which the Times critic Jeannette Catsoulis praised for its “extraordinarily intricate” sound design. She singled out Ahmed for his “tweaking urgency that’s poignantly credible — he’s a study in distress.”Even though only four men of Asian heritage have ever been nominated for best actor, the situation is far more bleak in the best actress category, where only one woman of Asian heritage has ever been nominated (Merle Oberon for the 1935 drama “The Dark Angel”), and none has won.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More