AHFW’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #17 ‘Minari’

17. “Minari” – Director/writer Lee Isaac Chung helms an autobiographical feature of his childhood – or a small sliver of it – from the 1980s.  Jacob (Steven Yeun) leads his family to the middle of nowhere in Arkansas to start a farm and grow Korean vegetables.  Without much of an economic safety net, he realizes the slim chances of actually lassoing the American dream.  His wife Monica (Yeri Han), her mother, and their two kids feel the monetary friction in a frank, authentic struggle within the home.  “Minari” feels similar…

AHFW’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #20 ‘Boys State’

AHFW is counting down its Top 20 films of 2020, and last year was so taxing in countless ways, but we were also challenged to narrow down our favorite movies.  After much blood, sweat, and some tears too…here’s the beginning of our Top 20 films! 20. “Boys State” – “You have no time to take it all in. (On the) first day, they throw you into that arena, and it’s like a battle royale. It’s crazy,” Steven Garza says.  Steven is a high school student, one of about 1,000 teens…

Here’s an enthusiastic vote for ‘Boys State’

“Boys State” –  “Political parties are likely to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.” – George Washington, 1796 The aforementioned quote appears at the beginning of “Boys State”, a highly compelling documentary – from directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss – that presents Texas Boys State, an American Legion-promoted event in which over 1,000 teenage boys descend on Austin to engage in a government simulation. Given the…