Pachinko (Chapter One)

If this were a film rather than an episode of television, I imagine many would have no qualms towards calling this their favorite film of 2022. Shot like it is meant to be shown on a forty-foot screen, it’s (so far) a tale of disparate narratives not unlike many other prestige dramas of the 2010s, with the most immediately appreciable difference being that “Pachinko” takes to quickly connect its dots rather than frustrate in the short term and ask the audience to trust it will eventually all come together. It makes for an easily digestible hour despite its wrenching material.

9