Chatelaine: What To Know Before Watching Apple TV’s Epic New Saga Pachinko

Photo by Emile Guillemot

March 24, 2022

There is something equal parts poignant and troubling about watching the small-screen adaptation of Pachinko, Apple TV+’s new series based on Min Jin Lee’s award-winning 2017 novel of the same name. The show, available March 25, centres on the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. With themes like imperialism, displacement and erasure, the epic saga strikes particularly hard as part of world history attempts to repeat itself in Ukraine.

Pachinko follows the immigrant experience and spans nearly a century, 4 generations and 3 countries—Korea, Japan and the U.S.—in eight episodes. What makes the series particularly remarkable is that the atrocities of Japan’s colonization of Korea and the heartache of post-colonial life in Japan for ethnic Koreans are brought to Western and international audiences in ways no Hollywood studio has done before.

In the TV adaptation, three actors share the role of the main character Sunja at different stages of her life, including the Oscar-winning actress Youn Yuh-jung, who plays the elder Sunja. But the breakout star is newcomer Kim Min-ha, who gives teenage Sunja a stoic strength and holds her own against South Korean superstar Lee Min-ho, who plays her lover Hansu. Along with gorgeous cinematography and a soaring soundtrack, the series is multilingual. The subtitles are cleverly colour-coded to distinguish between Korean and Japanese dialogue and could open doors for new forms of non-Western storytelling in TV and film.

For a richer, deeper understanding of Pachinko, here’s a quick primer on what you need to know before hitting the play button.

More at https://chatelaine.com/living/entertainment/pachinko/