2021 Jeonbuk LIFE! Summer Edition

Lifestyle: Entertainment
One could only imagine what was going through Monica Yi's
(played by Yeri Han) mind when she and her family first arrive in
the heartland of Arkansas, a rugged Ozarks region several hours
from town. Uprooted from their life in California, the Yi family
moves in pursuit of Jacob's (played by Steven Yeun) dream of building his
farm and growing Korean produce. Jacob finds them a trailer home close
to the farm so he can devote all his time tending to his new venture. Upon
seeing the dingy, leaking home on wheels, Monica can only mutter: "It just
keeps getting worse and worse."
Monica's disdain comes from the decadeslong hardships and sacrifices of
a woman who followed her husband "to save each other in America," in
the middle of the '80s when Korea was far from its now-glistening modern
economic status. The couple endured years of working as "sexers" in a chicken
factory in California, which entails separating male and female chicks, only
to find the same job in another state. But this time Jacob has bigger plans.
In his final attempt to save their marriage, Jacob agrees to let his wife's
mother, Soon Ja (Yuh-Jung Youn), come from Korea to live with them. As if
moving to unfamiliar territory wasn't enough, having an "unconventional"
grandmother around is another huge adjustment for the children, Anne and
David (played by Noel Kate Cho and Alan Kim). This is especially hard for the
younger son with ill health whose idea of a grandmother is one who bakes
cookies and reads bedtime stories.
But Soon Ja is not your typical grandma. She can't cook, can't speak English,
and is always breaking the rules. She watches wrestling on TV and swears
every chance she gets. Instead of a warm personality, she has a strong,
uncouth demeanor and lacks the kind of gentleness that David has come
to expect. "She smells like Korea," he says, by which he probably means
"unfamiliar." But despite her imperfections, there's one thing that Soon Ja
knows how to do — it's to love her family unconditionally.
As David's dislike of his grandmother grows, so do the family's problems.
The water irrigation in the farm isn't working, a promising business from a
Korean company fails to come through, and lastly, the couple's relationship is
hanging by a thread. In the midst of all this, Soon Ja plants a batch of minari,
or Korean water parsley, deep in the forest next to a river, in hopes that it will
thrive and become another versatile food ingredient for the family.
With a collapsing farm, a bleak future waiting, faulty water, and patience
running out — will the Yi family stay together or fall apart?
11 Summer 2021 • Issue 23