Minari | 2020 | PG-13 | – 1.4.4

Why is “Minari” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “for some thematic elements and a rude gesture.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a fire that destroys a storage shed filled with produce, a tornado watch, many arguments, a child insults his grandmother leading to punishment, a woman has a stroke and we see her speech and mobility limited, several arguments, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Autobiographical story taking place in the 1980s: A Korean man (Steven Yeun) immigrates to America and settles his family in a small Arkansas town, dreaming of building a farm that can provide local markets with Korean fruits and vegetables. However, accidents, family conflicts, racism, and the challenge of assimilation complicate their lives. Also with Alan S. Kim, Yeri Han, Noel Cho, Darryl Cox, Esther Moon and Youn Yuh-jung. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung. Many lines of dialogue are spoken in Korean with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:55]

Minari SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A husband kisses his wife on the forehead and they touch each other’s shoulders in a couple of scenes.
► A man sits in a bathtub and his wife washes his hair for him (we see his bare shoulders and chest). A man and a couple of women work in a hatchery identifying the sex of chicks (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).

Minari VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A woman burns garbage in a barrel and a burning box falls out and onto the ground igniting hay in the area and spreading to a storage shed; we see the building engulfed in flames as a man and a woman try to salvage produce from inside (they come out coughing from the smoke and collapse on the ground). Thunderclaps and lighting flashes in the sky as a man tells his family that they have to be prepared in case a tornado lands and he says that their trailer home would be destroyed if a tornado comes through.
► A young boy wakes up next to his grandmother and discovers that she wet the bed and won’t wake up; she has had a stroke, she moans and cannot seem to move and we hear that she has gone to the hospital later. A boy drops a dresser drawer and it cuts his leg (we see blood on his leg, foot and the rug until a woman bandages him). A man tells his young son to hold his hands over his head for a period of time as a punishment, then tells him “Go get the stick,” and when he falls and breaks the stick the man tells him to go outside to get another one; the boy returns with a soft piece of grass. A young boy urinates in a cup (we hear the trickle) and gives it to his grandmother; she yells and spits it out when she drinks some. A woman and a teen girl burn garbage in a large barrel and we hear glass shatter and sparks pop out in a few scenes.
► A man walks on a dirt road dragging a large cross on Sunday and tells another man, “This is my church.” A man prays in a house and says, “Cast you out” near a spot where a woman seems to be seeing something (we do not see anything). A man makes a gesture shooting himself in the head when he talks about another man committing suicide. Several conversations between a husband and his wife indicate that they will separate and live in different parts of the country (they do not separate).
► A man yells in frustration and kicks crates when a grocer cancels an order. A husband and his wife argue in several scenes and their children are upset by the yelling; the husband yells and pounds on a table in one scene. A wife is upset when her husband shows her and their children their new home, which is a rundown mobile home in the middle of an open field; she says, “This isn’t what you promised.” A young boy tells his grandmother several times that she is not like a grandmother because she curses and doesn’t cook or bake cookies. A young boy tells his grandmother that their current situation is all her fault for coming to live with them from Korea. A wife tells her husband that she has lost her faith in him. A boy says that his grandmother “smells like Korea.” A young boy says, “I don’t like grandma.” A man tells his young son to “go get the stick” a few times when he is going to be punished for bad behavior (we do not see the boy being struck). While playing cards with her grandchildren, a woman says, “A plague on you.” A woman says that Korean people left the city to get away from church. A young boy is frightened about dying. A man suggests performing an exorcism over a field. A woman puts a large donation in an offering tray at church and another woman takes it out and keeps it. A woman talks disparagingly about people being so fat. A young girl speaks nonsense words until she hits on one that another girl tells her is a Korean word. A boy asks another boy, “Why is your face so flat?”
► A young boy throws a stone at a snake on a tree limb and a woman tells him to stop or the snake will hide and they are more dangerous when they hide. A young boy runs through the woods to get away from his grandmother and he breathes heavily, holds his chest and we hear his heart beating. A woman watches wrestling on TV and seems upset that someone will get hurt. We hear that a young boy has a heart murmur and his parents tell him not to run in several scenes. A man finds fruit and vegetables rotting on the ground in his field and becomes upset.
► When a man can no longer pay for water from the county, their water is cut off so they bring water in buckets from a stream for use in the house. A man and a couple of women work in a hatchery identifying the sex of chicks and we are told that the male chicks are destroyed because they are of no use; we see a smoke stack spewing black smoke where we are told the animals are destroyed. A woman unpacks a bag of chili powder and anchovies that she has brought from Korea and her adult daughter cries with joy. A woman prepares a soup for a boy and she says that it has deer antlers in it. After a man’s well runs dry he taps into the country water lien to irrigate his fields.
► A young boy wakes up in his bed and discovers that his sheets and underwear are wet; he covers the wet spot with a comforter and hides his wet underwear under the mattress. A woman picks dirt out of a boy’s ear (we see spots on a tissue). A young girl says that Mountain Dew is water from the mountains and that it is good for your health. Two boys spit chewing tobacco goo into a cup. We see an ultrasound of a young boy’s heart and a doctor says that a hole in his heart that is causing a murmur is getting smaller.

Minari LANGUAGE 4

 – 1 obscene hand gesture, 6 scatological terms, 9 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (crazy, nonsense, Americans, scary, bastards, stupid, lovey-dovey, hillbilly, selfish, dumb, rascal), exclamations (enough, stop it, oh no, sucks for you, whoo, my goodness, goodness, oh my, careful), 18 religious exclamations (e.g. Thank You God, Hallelujah, God, Jesus, Amen, Out In The Name Of Jesus, Cast You Out, Oh My God, Garden of Eden, a man speaks in tongues in several scenes, a man suggests performing an exorcism over a field, a woman tells her son to pray to heal his heart). | profanity glossary |

Minari SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man smokes cigarettes in several scenes throughout the movie, two young boys put chewing tobacco in their mouths and spit goo into cups, and a man yells when another man offers him a cigarette.

Minari DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Dreams, goals, life plans, death of a loved one, loneliness, disappointment, failure, follow-through, guilt, immigration, farming, Ronald Reagan, Korean War, losing faith in someone.

Minari MESSAGE

 – Sticking with something through difficult times can pay off.