It's Impossible Not to Tear Up at Minari Star Alan Kim's Critics' Choice Acceptance Speech

Extremely anecdotal evidence tells me that nearly everyone watched Meghan and Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah on Sunday night, and almost no one watched the Critics’ Choice Awards, which took place at the exact same time.

This is no tragedy, if you ask me. The Oprah interview—now officially known as “the interview,” as definitive as Alison Roman’s “the stew”—delivered enough gossip to make up for a year of the largely gossip-less pandemic. Pandemic-era award shows can also be a strange thing, as they take place mostly over video chat.

Nonetheless, it would be a tragedy to miss Minari star Alan Kim’s acceptance speech after winning Best Young Actor.

“First of all I’d like to thank the critics who voted, and my family—” Kim, who is 8 years old, starts off, before breaking down into tears. “Oh my goodness, I’m crying.” Kim continues listing off names in between sobs before saying, “I hope I will be in other movies. Is this a dream? I hope it’s not a dream.”

After that he wipes away his tears and waves goodbye, having successfully melted my cold, cold heart:

Kim, Minari’s youngest actor, has quickly become a breakout star winning fans over with his fashion choices and sense of humor during the press cycle for the film, about a Korean American family that moves to a farm in Arkansas.

Minari also won Best Foreign Language Film once again on Sunday night, after winning the same award last week at the Golden Globes. This was a bittersweet victory, since the film was barred from being considered in the Best Picture category for containing more than 50 percent of another language, a rule implemented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Oscar nominations haven’t been announced yet, but Minari is expected to be well-represented among the noms, and, some critics believe, could become the award show’s “underdog success.”