‘Pachinko’ Wins Critics Choice Award For Best Foreign Language Series

Pachinko won the award for Best Foreign Language Series at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards, which were presented on Jan. 15 at the Fairmount Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

Filmed in Korean, Japanese and English, the family saga starts in Korea under Japanese rule and travels to Japan and the US.

Based on Min Jin Lee’s bestselling novel of the same name, the AppleAAPL
TV series tells the story of Sunja, a quietly resilient young woman who helps her mother run a boarding house during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The young Sunja is played by rookie actress Kim Min-ha. Sunja lives an uneventful life, punctuated by trips to the market, until she meets the Korean fish broker, played by k-drama star Lee Min-ho. He works for the Japanese so he has the power to change her life for better or worse.

The series stars Lee, Kim, Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung, Noh Sang-hyun, Soji Arai and Broadway star Jin Ha. It was produced by Soo Hugh, who previously produced The Terror and The Whispers, and directed by Justin Chon and Kogonada. The first part of the series ran from March 25 to April 29, 2022 and a second season is in the works.

The competition for Best Foreign Language Series also included the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a NetflixNFLX
original starring Park Eun-bin and Kang Tae-oh. Park attended the award ceremony and was photographed with American actress Julia Garner. The other foreign language series nominees were 1899, Garcia, The Kingdom Exodus, Kleo, My Brilliant Friend and Tehran.

Last year the Korean drama Squid Game won the best non-English language TV series, becoming the first Korean show to receive the prize. Lead actor Lee Jung-jae also won the best actor award in a drama series.

Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave was nominated for best foreign language films, alongside All Quiet on the Western Front, Argentina, 1985; Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths; Close and RRR. The Indian film RRR won the award.

The 600+ member American-Canadian Critics Choice Association holds the Critics Choice Awards every year to celebrate the best of TV and film.