---
title: "Pachinko"
year: 2022
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/pachinko"
fi1m_score: 85
critics_score: 88
critics_reviews: 12
published: "2026-09-17T04:13:46.533233+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T04:14:01.545981+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Pachinko (2022)

Created by Soo Hugh · MPA TV-MA · Drama

**Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 88 from 12 reviews

*In a sentence:* Four generations, three languages, two timelines, and the one about the bank is the one we could have done without

> Soo Hugh’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel follows a Korean family from a Busan fishing village under Japanese rule to a Tokyo bank in 1989. The past is so well made that the present struggles to keep up; give it your evenings anyway.

## Synopsis

On the fishing island of Yeongdo off Busan, under Japanese rule, Sunja (Kim Min-ha) grows up gutting fish at the market while her mother Yangjin (Jeong In-ji) keeps a boarding house. There she catches the eye of Hansu (Lee Min-ho), a rich fish broker in a white suit from Osaka. A sick young pastor, Isak (Steve Sanghyun Noh), arrives at the boarding house. In Tokyo in 1989 Sunja’s grandson Solomon (Jin Ha), a banker, is sent to Osaka by his American boss Tom Andrews (Jimmi Simpson) to persuade an elderly Korean woman to sell her land, and lodges with his father Mozasu (Sohee Park) and his grandmother, the older Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung), who runs a pachinko parlour.

## Review

Soo Hugh’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s novel follows one Korean family for most of a century, from a fishing island off Busan under Japanese occupation to a Tokyo bank in 1989. Sixteen episodes over two seasons, in Korean, Japanese and English. Our verdict is that the historical half is as fine a piece of television drama as we have seen in years, and the modern half is a decent programme that happens to be sharing the same hour. Watch it for the first; put up with the second.

Hugh’s decision is to cut between the two eras inside each episode rather than give each its own run. A girl hauling fish through a Busan market in the 1920s and a man in a good suit in a Tokyo lift in 1989 share the same forty-odd minutes, and the cut between them is meant to tell us something. It usually does. The subtitles are coloured by language, yellow for Korean and blue for Japanese, and the device is more than a courtesy. In this world which language you speak, and when you switch, is a choice with a price on it, and the colours let you watch people paying.

Kim Min-ha plays the young Sunja with her chin up and her mouth shut. She does not cry until the series has earned it, and she looks at Lee Min-ho’s Hansu, the fish broker in the white suit, as if she were weighing him for market. Lee has been cast as a pin-up and for two episodes that is all he is allowed to be; the series takes its time before letting him be frightening, and it improves once it does. Steve Sanghyun Noh makes Isak, the sick young pastor at the boarding house, gentle and a little scared of himself. Youn Yuh-jung’s older Sunja has decided what she thinks about almost everything and says it, and the comedy of watching her grandson try to manage her is the best thing in the 1989 scenes. Jin Ha does what can be done with Solomon, a man written as a lesson rather than a person.

Ante Cheng and Sofian El Fani shoot Yeongdo in cold greens against a grey sea, with the boarding house lit by whatever comes through the doors, and shoot 1989 Tokyo in bank glass and yellow lamplight, so the present looks richer and the past looks alive. Mara LePere-Schloop and Ruth Ammon’s design gives Osaka’s Korean quarter tin roofs and a street you can smell, and Chae Kyung-hwa dresses Sunja in white cotton that gets greyer with every year. Nico Muhly’s score is strings and a chorus of voices, used well and slightly too often. The title sequence, in which the cast dance through a pachinko parlour to an old American pop song, is the one place the series lets its hair down, and we grinned at it every time.

We did not expect a bowl of rice to get to us, and it did. White rice in occupied Korea was kept for the Japanese, and there is a scene in which some is bought at a ruinous price and set down in front of a person who knows exactly what it cost; later the older Sunja eats a bowl of it and weeps. Nobody explains. Kogonada, who directs the episode, keeps the camera on Youn’s face and lets the silence run, and we found ourselves in tears at a woman eating her dinner. That is how the series works when it is working: a small object, a long history behind it, and no speech.

The faults are nearly all in 1989. Solomon’s plot, in which his American boss Tom Andrews (Jimmi Simpson) sends him to talk an old Korean woman into selling her land, is the kind of story a lesser series would have built itself around, and here it looks thin because of what it is cut against. The second season moves the family into the war and slows down; Jung Eun-chae’s Kyunghee is given a strand of her own and it is slow. With ten editors credited across the run, the intercutting sometimes cuts by the clock rather than by sense. Most critics are warmer than us about the whole; we suspect they were, like us, thinking of the first half when they said so.

Give it two episodes. Keep the subtitles on and leave your phone in another room, because half the drama is in who chooses which language, and the series will not repeat itself for you.

*Fi1m score 85, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Every one of the twelve reviews is positive, and most are warmly so. Critics agree that the eight-part adaptation is both large and small: a family followed across four generations, told through close, particular moments rather than sweep. The praise settles on the performances above all, especially the three actors sharing Sunja, with Kim Minha as the young woman and Youn Yuh-jung as her older self named again and again. The fractured, intercut timeline is singled out as often, credited with tying the generations together without losing the thread, and several reviews note the direction and the score.

The reservations are few and mild. The Guardian finds the number of storylines overloading at times, and /Film, the least enthusiastic, still calls it stirring while describing it as a streamlined and earnest version of the novel. Nobody dissents on the central performances. The spread is narrow, and the argument among critics is not whether it is good but how good.

### Reviews we read (12)

- **Evening Standard**, Jochan Embley (90/100, inferred): The eight-part adaptation is epic in scale and enrapturing, emerging as a sublime portrait of a family and a people through beautiful and brutal storytelling. It is praised for its nuanced performances, especially the three actors playing Sunja, and its handling of themes of racism, memory and displacement. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/pachinko-review-apple-tv-series-b987553.html)
- **The AV Club**, Saloni Gajjar (A-): The critic calls Pachinko an extraordinary, immersive multigenerational drama that weaves a Korean family's story across decades, countries, and languages with universal resonance on identity and home. Exceptional performances, especially by Kim Minha as young Sunja, and strong direction and visuals are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/pachinko-review-apple-tv-plus-drama-transcends-boundari-1848672791)
- **The i Paper**, Emily Baker (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the series as a breathtaking generational saga and potentially the best show of 2022. It excels through its intimate focus on Sunja's resilience and the seamless weaving of historical events with personal emotion across four generations. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/pachinko-apple-tv-review-a-breathtaking-korean-generational-saga-1538720)
- **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds Pachinko a major achievement that delivers epic family drama through intimate, minute human stories and non-linear storytelling across generations. The performances, particularly Kim Minha as young Sunja, and the way it charts resilience amid historical change are highlighted as standout elements. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/pachinko-review-apple-tv-series.html)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (85/100, inferred): The review calls Pachinko magnificent and a strong contender for the most satisfying TV of the year. It singles out the fractured timeline structure for perfectly balancing historical sweep with intimate personal moments while highlighting the directors' visual poetry. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/pachinko/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (85/100, inferred): The critic deems it an ambitious and emotionally epic family saga and a strong, stirring start. It praises the intercutting structure for connecting generational themes and the title sequence's promise of hope amid bleakness. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/pachinko-review-1235108946/)
- **The Telegraph**, Anita Singh (85/100, inferred): This quiet Korean masterpiece follows one family across generations and is moving and bittersweet, balancing trauma with resilience and hope. It is called a quiet masterpiece that puts many TV dramas to shame with its steady unfolding and emotional depth. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/pachinko-review-quiet-korean-masterpiece-puts-tv-dramas-shame/)
- **The Guardian**, Stuart Jeffries (80/100, inferred): The adaptation is a vast, sumptuous dynastic series that sweeps across eras and continents, bringing to life a rich historical epic of a Korean family. It is praised for its sophisticated structure and score but noted for overloading viewers with multiple storylines. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/25/pachinko-review-min-jin-lee-south-korea)
- **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (A+): The series is called a masterful tapestry of an adaptation and a triumph of visual storytelling that executes its vision flawlessly. The critic highlights the exceptional performances, particularly Youn Yuh-jung as the elder Sunja. [Read](https://collider.com/pachinko-tv-series-review-apple-tv-plus/)
- **NME**, Rhian Daly (5/5): The series is hailed as the finest Korean drama of the year and a moving masterwork that stands apart from shows like Squid Game. The critic praises its masterful handling of family life across generations against a backdrop of historical change. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/tv-reviews/pachinko-review-k-drama-apple-3189291)
- **Paste**, Max Covill (9.2/10): Apple TV+’s sprawling, multilingual series is deemed a winner and already one of the best shows on the service. The critic praises its fantastic performances and captivating story of survival across generations, with standout work from the ensemble including Youn Yuh-jung and Lee Min-ho. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/pachinko/pachinko-review)
- **/Film**, Hoai-Tran Bui (7/10): The adaptation is described as a stirring prestige series that streamlines the novel's immigrant saga into a beautiful, earnest vision. The critic singles out the strong performances anchoring the story, especially those of the central character Sunja across timelines. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/796204/pachinko-review-soo-hughs-stirring-prestige-series-streamlines-a-singular-immigrant-saga/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Soo Hugh
- **Creator:** Soo Hugh
- **Director:** Justin Chon, Kogonada, Sang-il Lee, Arvin Chen, Leanne Welham
- **Writer:** Soo Hugh, Chang-rae Lee, Melissa Park, Ethan Kuperberg, Franklin jin Rho, Haruna Lee, Karen Chee, Lauren Yee, E. J. Koh, Mfoniso Udofia, Hansol Jung, Christina Yoon, David Mitchell, Matthew J. McCue
- **Cinematography:** Ante Cheng, Sofian El Fani
- **Editor:** Jacob Craycroft, Susan E. Kim, Erica Freed Marker, Simon Brasse, Sabine Hoffmann, Joe Hobeck, Eric Spang, Matthew C. Buckley, Aacharee Ungsriwong, Dan Roberts
- **Music:** Nico Muhly
- **Production design:** Ruth Ammon, Mara LePere-Schloop
- **Costume design:** Chae Kyung-hwa
- **Producer:** Lynne Bespflug, Kiri Kraatz, Mark Murdoch
- **Cast:** Youn Yuh-jung as Older Sunja; Sohee Park as Mozasu; Jin Ha as Solomon; Jung Eun-chae as Young Kyunghee; Kim Min-ha as Sunja; Jeong In-ji as Yangjin; Kim Sung-kyu as Mr. Kim Changho; Lee Min-ho as Hansu
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 24 March 2022
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1r5XXJOYNA

## Where to watch in the US

- Apple TV: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Minari* (2020): A Korean family tries Arkansas farmland; small, funny and kind about failure
- *The Makioka Sisters* (1983): Four Osaka sisters and a way of life ending; Ichikawa watches the seasons turn
- *Mr. Sunshine* (2018): Korea before the occupation, told as a lavish and surprisingly angry romance
- *Heimat* (1984): One German village across sixty years; the patient original of the long family chronicle
- *Past Lives* (2023), Fi1m 85: Two childhood friends, Seoul and New York, and the life that did not happen — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/past-lives.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/pachinko