THERE ARE TWO distinct visual styles in the new miniseries Pachinko. AppleTV+’s adaptation of the beloved 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee confronts the beauty, pain and struggle of one family’s journey over four generations, following them from Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1920s to the bustling metropolis of 80s Tokyo. Four episodes were directed by the painterly filmmaker Kogonada and four by the bolder, more dramatic Justin Chon: two of the most exciting Korean-American directors working today. “Our collaboration wasn’t necessarily verbal, it was voodoo,” muses Chon.
Many would recognise Chon as Eric from Twilight, but in the years since his boy-band haircut graced the screen, Chon has undergone a transformation. Now, he’s the tattooed indie director setting the film world alight with projects about the immigrant experience including last year’s Blue Bayou, in which he starred alongside Alicia Vikander.
In contrast, no one has ever really known who Kogonada – a pseudonym for the largely anonymousand this month’s , starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith.
