Film Review: ‘Pachinko’: Grand Family Micro-Tale

Pachinko arcade-style games offer the lowest gambling stakes legally available in Japan. Given its associations with vice, it is not a very prestigious business, but Solomon Baek’s Korean-Japanese family could never afford snobbery.

Yet, his father was only able to make a modest success in the pachinko business, and only succeeded at all because of the sacrifices Solomon’s grandmother made. Sunja is the matriarch of the Baek family and the source of their resiliency. Her strength in the face of poverty and hardship drives the family saga of Min Jin Lee’s novel, “Pachinko,” which Soo Hugh has adapted as the eight-episode series.

Family Saga

It all starts with Sunja’s unfortunate mother in Korea, who accepts an arranged marriage with the sickly Hoonie, after her family is left destitute by the Japanese occupation. Young Sunja loves her doting father, but his premature death forces her to work long hours assisting her mother. Rather fatefully, she catches the eye of the new fish-broker, Koh Hansu, who has returned to Busan after making good in Japan. He has a reputation for ruthlessness, but also for integrity. Even when he loses Sunja, through his own rigidity, he secretly keeps tabs on her, even when she emigrates to Japan.