Pachinko

Matt Roush says...

Winner of a Peabody and American Film Institute award for its first season in 2022, the sprawling saga (based on Min Jin Lee’s acclaimed novel) about a Korean family displaced in Japan before, during and long after World War II returns for an engrossing and often heartbreaking second season. (See my review of the first season, which is essential viewing.) The central figure is Sunja (Minha Kim as the younger and Oscar-winner Yuh-Jung Youn as the elderly version), a Mother Courage figure with a soul of steel, who in the 1940s war years moves her extended family into the Japanese countryside far from Osaka, provided for by a benefactor (Lee Minho) whose secret history with Sunja could destroy her family’s hard-fought harmony. The older Sunja looks back on this time of sacrifice from the late 1980s, when her ambitious grandson Solomon (Jin Ha) schemes to make his name in high finance. (He’d be right at home on HBO’s Industry.) Anna Sawai, so remarkable in Shogun, co-stars in the modern-day section as Solomon’s cautionary colleague. Pachinko’s sweep is impressive, though toggling between the two time periods can be challenging. Ultimately, it’s a story of resilience. And as older Sunja reflects, “Why do some people in this world manage to survive while others do not?” Episodes drop weekly.

What's Worth Watching (Aug 23)