Why we picked it – Another film from maestro Hirokazu Kore-eda? We’re on board. It is a surprisingly upbeat for a story based on baby trafficking.
Synopsis – Ex-convict Ha Sang-hyeon is the owner of a small laundry and volunteers at the nearby church, where his friend Dong-soo works. They have an illegal business. They steal babies left in the church’s baby box and delete the surveillance footage that shows a baby was left there. Then they sell the babies on the adoption black market. When a young prostitute mother comes back after having abandoned her baby, she discovers what they have done; but decides to go with them on a road trip to interview the baby’s potential parents. Along the way, they visit the orphanage where Dong grew up and one of the eight-year olds stows away in the van. Meanwhile, two policewomen are on their trail. A quietly eccentric road movie of an unusual family in which everyone is yearning for intimacy in a world of alienation.
The film – The idea for Broker was initially conceived when Kore-eda was researching the adoption systems for a different film, when he discovered the prevalence of baby-boxes in South Korea, where people can anonymously leave children. He has described Broker as being a companion piece to his 2018 film Shoplifters, which we showed in 2019. The two films share a thematic interest in social outcasts coming together to form an unconventional family. They are also similar in turning sad and potentially ugly situations into charming films with a gentle humanity and a warm playfulness where the characters find tenderness and camaraderie in harsh circumstances. Kore-eda struggled with how to finish the film, rewriting many times during the shooting. The end result is a remarkable balance: not a contrived happy ending, but not one of despair. Here is the press conference with Kore-eda and the cast at Cannes in which they discuss some of the themes above. It takes a while as Japanese, Korean, French and English is being spoken and translated (there are some spoilers!).
Director and Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Cinematography: Hong Kyung-pyo; Korea, 2022, 129 mins, 12A