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David Paeng can’t pick just one part of the new film “Minari” that resonates with him. As a Korean American farmer, he relates to every scene of filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung’s drama about a Korean immigrant who moves his family from California to Arkansas to start a farm.
“Culturally, the subtle nuances, the interactions between the mother-in-law, wife, husband, and kids it’s all exactly the same [as my experience]” said Paeng, the farmer at Serenity Farm in Lucerne Valley, California. “I totally relate.”
Paeng left Korea for the U.S. as a boy and understands what it’s like to come of age in a “straight-up Korean” family. His parents punished him the same way that the parents in “Minari” discipline their son, David (Alan Kim). And, like the film’s protagonist, Paeng grows a crop (jujubes) popular with immigrants. He also takes the time to teach his child about farming.