PACHINKO
PACHINKO (trailer here) was one of the most anticipated original series of this year and boy, was it worth the wait. Based on the bestselling historical fiction epic from Min Jin Lee, this global masterpiece just dropped its first three episodes on Apple TV+. First off, I cannot even put into words how visually breathtaking Pachinko is—whisking us from Korea to Japan to America. But at the same time, it’s just so intimate, telling a family story spanning generations, with the lifetime of protagonist Sunja as our touchstone. The series is in Korean, Japanese, and English. It makes me think of Bong Joon-ho's Oscars speech (a theme in this week’s newsletter, clearly!) urging audiences to open up our minds to an expansive world of film and TV outside of the English language. The pilot, with the gripping performance of young breakout star Yu-na Jeon, moves from Japanese-occupied Korea in 1915 to New York City in 1989 (with so many years and cities in between). And the premiere falling ahead of Oscar weekend feels only fitting since Youn Yuh-jung is one of the other stars of this series, hot off last year’s Oscar win for her beautiful work in MINARI.
Once again, I don't have the words to truly describe how much I want y'all to watch this series but I'll leave you with this: In a time of brilliant TV, Pachinko has stood out as one of my immediate favorites. That's it.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant
