+ Best Japanese Movie of the Year + Best Tokyo Movie of the Year
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| This happy poster for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters seems to show an ideal family, but the film's title tells us that there is more to their story than meets the eye here |
In a small house in Tokyo lives a ragtag 'family' of individuals who are not biologically connected but share each others' limited means, as they discover a little neglected and abused girl in the neighborhood, whom they decide to take in.
Shoplifters is the 13th film from Japanese master writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Like Father, Like Son/Soshite chichi ni naru (2013)). It is a film which, like previous films from his hands, probes the fabrics that make a family a family. It also delves into some of the strategies that underclass people employ in order to make ends meet:
Lily Franky (After the Storm/Umi yori mo mada fukaku (2016)) is poignant as the 'father', who teaches his 'son' and new 'daughter' how to shoplift successfully. The young woman does striptease shows. The 'grandmother' (the late Kirin Kiki (Rage/Ikari (2016)) is a natural as the tough old bird) collects an indemnity and receives pity donations. And so on. But the sadness of their low plight is countered by the fact that they cling together and act as something like a real family. But as crises hit them that fabric is tested. SPOILER In the film's moving ending, we are shown how abandonment and neglect are poison to family relations, and how family breaks create wounds that run deep. SPOILER On the more optimistic side, Shoplifters leaves the little girl back with her poorly equipped biological mother but implicitly shows us that the time spent in an actual, loving environment stays with the girl, who is tough and will likely make it.
Kore-eda's humdrum pace is laced with moments of intimacy, humor, confusion and pain, as he brings several complex relationships together in this fine, intelligent, compassionate, humanistic film.
Related posts:
Hirokazu Koreeda: 2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2018 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
After the Storm/海よりもまだ深く (Umi yori mo Mada Fukaku) (2016) - Koreeda's striking portrayal of a disappointing man
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Like Father, Like Son/そして父になる (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) - Koreeda's magnificent reflection on upbringing and family
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: In excess of 55.1 mil. $
= Uncertain, but most likely a huge hit
[Shoplifters premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 121 minutes. Kore-eda developed the story during his making of masterpiece Like Father, Like Son (2013). Shooting took place in Japan, including Tokyo, from December 2017 - ?. The film won the main prize, the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival under jury president Cate Blanchett. Its biggest markets have been its production country Japan with 37.8 mil. $ (68.6 % of the total gross), making it one of the highest-grossing domestic releases there for the year, China with 14 mil. $ (25.4 %) and South Korea with 1.2 mil. $ (2.2 %). Several markets' grosses are not listed on the film's Box Office Mojo sheet yet, and it has yet to open in several markets: 22 Nov. (Portugal), 23 Nov. (UK, Ireland, US), 12 Dec. (France), 13 Dec. (Holland), 21 Dec. (Sweden), 27 Dec. (Germany), 3 Jan. (Brazil), 10 Jan. (Hungary), 18 Jan. (Turkey) and 7 Feb. (Argentina). More countries may be added. If made on a realistic 7 mil. $ budget, which may be set too high, the film would have made back already 7.87 times its cost. It has been chosen as Japan's official Oscar entry for the year. Kore-eda returns with The Truth (2019), his first non-Japanese film, starring Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve. Franky returned in The Gun/Jû (2018). Shoplifters is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Shoplifters?
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