How a sense of place and family link generations in ‘Pachinko’

Turning Min Jin Lee’s expansive historical novel “Pachinko” into an eight-hour Apple TV+ series was a daunting proposition. Newcomer Minha Kim portrays the young heroine Sunja and South Korean national treasure and “Minari” Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn plays her in her 70s; Korean American Jin Ha is Solomon; and Hallyu superstar Lee Minho is Hansu, a Japan-born Korean who has a profound effect on Sunja’s life. “The first three episodes really have to establish a sense of place because so much of this series becomes about displacement,” says Kogonada, whose films “Columbus” explored the Indiana city’s unique architecture and “After Yang” examined what makes a home. And I like to really be in the mind of the characters, a lot of closeups and stuff.” Kogonada pays homage to a hero, director Kenji Mizoguchi, with long tracking shots and sensitivity to female endurance throughout — and in Episode 7’s re-creation of 1923’s Great Kanto earthquake, applies what he calls the Japanese master’s “haunted camera,” the stately, almost funereal tracking shots used in such ghost stories as “Ugetsu.” Amid physical and cultural chaos, Chon repeatedly locates touching family interactions in spaces like a newlywed migrant couple’s cramped bedroom or an AIDS victim’s hospital ward. “To be honest, I really didn’t get any notes the entire shoot,” Chon says, still sounding amazed.