The television adaptation of the novel Pachinko, a best-selling book by Korean-American author Min Jin Lee published in 2018, could scare away those “allergic” to subtitles: it was shot in Japanese, Korean and English, and constantly alternates between these three languages. But these would deprive themselves of discovering a magnificent and sumptuous historical saga highlighting lesser-known parts of oriental history in the 20th century.and century.
At the center of this story which tells the destiny of a Korean family uprooted in Japan is the character of Sunja (moving Youn Yuh-jung, Oscar winner for minari), which we follow from childhood to the evening of her life, between 1915 and 1989. Revolve around this courageous mother who has known devastating great love, squalor and the pangs of exile, her son, a prosperous owner of Pachinko parlors, a very popular game of chance, and his grandson, Solomon (Jin Ha), a young American banker, but also a vast cast of characters who convey the complexity of the immigrant condition in Japan , where even those born there remain eternal strangers.
The eight episodes of this first season (we guess that there will be at least one other, because a large part of the novel has not been exploited…), produced with style and a lot of means by the American filmmakers of origin Korean Kogonada (After Yang) and Justin Chon, and carried by the convincing performances of the members of its cast, let themselves be devoured with pleasure. You will still have to be patient since Apple TV+ only reveals the first three first, then the others on a weekly basis.
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