Pachinko (2022)

A western take on Korean history

I loved Min Jin Lee's original book. It would've been almost impossible for this adaptation to compare. So let's not put it on such a pedestal.

Is it unfair to judge a western show off its first season, recognizing that western-style shows are serial rather than self-contained? Regardless, this eight-episode stint is all that's out now, and it felt incomplete. We didn't close the loop on the relevance of pachinko as a metaphor. We only got introduced to Noa as a character in the LAST episode. We had a whole episode on Hansu's backstory — admittedly, richer than what we knew about him from the book — but it felt jarring and out of place (dare I say, it felt like... filler, if the point was to focus on Sunja's story here).

My friend is friends with a producer of the Apple TV+ series, and was told that their intention is for the story of Pachinko to be told over four seasons. I think I understand the rationale since the book spans across four generations. I liked the way this one followed Sunja and Solomon's stories in parallel. I understand that the source material is meaty. But ugh, the western show format of keeping things open-ended in hopes of renewal for the next season really irks me. It makes me wish that I had waited until the whole thing is out! But if people don't watch as it comes out, it won't get renewed — and the story will remain unfinished. It's all a ploy to keep people subscribed. Perhaps I'm feeling particularly cynical after watching such a cynical show. Is life just a game after all, rigged to keep us putting in our energy for the smallest wins? Watch Pachinko and see if that message resonates.

Leia Mais

From the very start of this drama, the opening song and dance wow! I was hooked. Because of the occupancy of the Japanese. I could relate thru that thru my own mother's life being Okinawan. The cast is so good and you can feel the emotion that they are playing. I also think I 've never seen Min Ho play a role like this one before and I love how the main girl is not a major movie star, but someone beautiful in her own way and I think that's why it's portrayed believable . I can't wait for the other episodes to come out. Youn Yuh-jung is one of my favorite actresses. The only thing I don't like about this show is why is there only 8 eps. There should be at least 10.

Leia Mais

Generations

Likes
1. I didnt read the book yet, but i loved the story of Sunja's family, from the time she was born and how she got married, had family, and struggled for a better life. At first I didnt understand why guys were falling all over Sunja but watch the drama and you'll find out why (and the actress is amazing).
2. Surprisingly i find Koh Hansu interesting (not just because he is played by LMH) but because adding one episode about his life (which is not in the book) gave some perspective of who he is now.
3. I wanna know more about what happened to Noa and how Mozasu grows up to be who he is, and Kyunghee. I think i will read the book now coz i cant wait for 4 more seasons how the story ends.

Dislikes
1. I prefer watching young Sunja's journey and not really the present timeline. Mostly because i'm not sold on Solomon. Surprised to see him act like this considering his family's experience. But i think that's the point of the story and he will learn and mature because of this.
2. I dont like Hana so not sure why we had to see one episode about her.

I hope Apple will be able to film all 4 seasons!

Rating: 8.5/10

Leia Mais

Good Enough

Korean-Canadian Drama " Pachinko ", based on the other under the same name, is a mutligeneration story.

The drama has a beautiful cinematography, with moody scenes, misty camera lencses, and the right setting and costumes. The jumping from one era to another, also, was smooth and one could easily distinguish one period from the other.

In addition, the drama is well acted, something that aided the story a lot and didn't let it flop.

However, this first season felt more like an prequel, an introduction to the story, as, just when things started picking up and everything was coming together, it ended.

So, overall, six out of ten.

Leia Mais

Pachinko: The game of life?

I happened to have read the book before I started watching this series, week by week patiently (even though I'm more of a characteristically binge-watcher!) and first things first, i was engrossed in the world presented before my eyes. The cinematography is stunning, and I particularly loved the way they synchronized shots cutting through the different timelines of young unmarried Sunja and grandmother Sunja.
One of my biggest criticisms would be how they handled the relationship development of Sunja and Isak. Both the actors were extremely well suited for their roles, but Isak's character should have been handled in a more authentic way. He was glossed over (in my opinion) to make way for Koh Hansu. Koh Hansu's backstory (which was entirely made up by the shows creator and has nothing to do with the original book) which took up an entire episode, was very jarring, they should have launched it after all the episodes were out, maybe as a season's special or something of a similar fashion. It broke the flow of narration.
That being said, I am still looking forward for the next season.

Leia Mais

A masterful adaptation...

Pachinko, in many ways, was a wakeup call for me. Xenophobia as per a Eurocentric narrative, has always been so intrinsically linked to a difference in the color of your skin, that it was jarring to see it happen to a group of people who are almost visually indistinguishable from their oppressors on the basis of skin color. Even then, it was humbling to see that the human heart is capable of so much hatred, that such experiences are almost universally unifying, irrespective of which side of the globe you're in. You'll always be an 'other' to somebody's 'us'. Nationalities, ethnicities, language and cultural differences are merely human constructs to 'leave other people out'.

With an Oscar Winner and a Hallyu star onboard, the team behind Pachinko could have easily succumbed to letting either of them steal the spotlight, but I'm happy to say it turned out to be the kind of project where the actors serve the story, and not the other way round. Kudos to the team for telling the story with 100% honesty and sincerity!

Within half a standard k-drama runtime, I'm impressed with the number of SO many wonderful cinematic moments of storytelling! And a large part of the credit must be given to the absolutely genius creative decision of telling the story un-chronologically. It's poignant to see parallel intersplices of the past and present within the same episode (like a young Sunja preparing to leave for Japan VS the elderly Sunja packing to revisit her homeland). But it's particularly even more poignant, when the events interconnect across episodes (a nostalgic elderly Sunja tasting her homegrown rice in ep3 VS a young Sunja being fed the same grains of rice, lovingly cooked by her Mum on her bethrothal dinner as perhaps the last meal on her homeland, in ep4). There is so much of bittersweet and poignant context that would have been lost, had the story been told linearly.

Kim Minha as Sunja is nothing short of a revelation, especially in the more emotionally demanding scenes. I felt as invested in her story from the first glance, much like her future suitors. Minha's freckled beauty, husky voice and her acting style sets her apart from cookie cutter k-actresses, and I feel she has a bright future ahead, similar to the likes of Kim Go Eun and Kim Dami. Minha's performance made me feel all of Sunja's desperation, conflict, and bravado. I do think humbly, that her line delivery could see some improvement....

While the story itself is the main meat of the show, it is elevated to the level of a visual feast because of the technical and hardware department. The cinematic vibe and the grand scoring were the absolutely perfect seasonings required for the 8ep serving, satisfying the drama-watcher's heart in me. I do hope Pachinko gets renewed for season 2, as it will be such a shame not to see Sunja's story be completed on this visual medium.

Leia Mais

DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS .

I finished watching ep 4 of this yesterday afternoon and have been thinking about it for a while now. I felt the need that I should put my cents out on this somewhere, so..here am I. I will edit the review once I finish watching the whole of it too.

The story is basically about Japanese colonization of Korea and how (much) it affected the then people, and the generations after. When you look at the broader perspective you will understand this is the story not just about the Japanese Korean issues (rivalry?), but also of all the countries many of us are from. In this biggggg world where the countries are divided into the first, second and third world's, the third world nations are always looked down. And within the same country there is (are) whole pyramid(s) of hierarchy of people - as in who stands where in the society, and then them calling eachother low and roaches. I have seen a world like that. TBH I'm living in one too. So I found this drama very relatable on many levels due to many reasons.

Moving on, this series also deals how one has to (read, is forced to) leave their land, culture, traditions and language in order to survive. Barely survive. These are also somethings we can find on newspapers every single day.

The production value is ✨. The actors, OST, CINEMATOGRAPHY, coloring (are they same?), SCREENPLAY, everything, everything is just so fine you wouldn't wanna move away from it.

I heard the series is a lot different from the original book(which I haven't read yet) and also about the backlash it got in Japan. I need to finish this totally in order to totally understand about the whole situation.

Even if you find it to be a bit slow paced I hope you hang on to it and watch. I'll be back here again after ep 8 and I hope you too will finish it by then.

Leia Mais