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Shoplifters(万引き家族)

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Japan · 2018
Rated R · 2h 1m
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Jyo Kairi
Genre Crime, Drama

After a routine shoplifting session, a family of small-time thieves encounter a small girl in the cold, eventually taking her in after much deliberation. Although in poverty, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets which test the bonds that unite them.

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What are people saying?

Billy Donoso Profile picture for Billy Donoso

'Shoplifters' is deceptive in an absolutely necessary way. My, and a lot of people's, natural inclination is to trust the media that report the news for us. It is only when I have reason to doubt the given narrative that I do, but for the most part, I don't have the time to investigate each individual report that comes across Channel 5 each night. But obviously, Kore-eda's media hardly reports the truth, but a publicly digestible yet horribly perverted version of it. The family is nothing but loving and caring for each other. Their flaws within the family structure are human and real: desiring a certain kind of father-son relationship; wishing to go back to a time when you were the only child to love; losing the grandma who gives the best advice on staying a dignified young woman when men ogle those who work in her profession; learning to trust when life has taught you by the mere age of 5 that you cannot trust. These are real and absolutely raw portraits of humanity, yet they are inevitably morphed into mug shots by the media. 'Local girl returned from kidnapping murderers to her biological parents' has a certain retributive appeal to it, doesn't it? Our adult characters are morally dubious, sure, but so are the adults in more sanitized positions in society. There is the shopkeeper, who pities Shota and Yuri and merely asks Shota to not make Yuri do the shoplifting herself, and there is Nobuyo's coworker, who sees Yuri with them and blackmails her with leaking that she is a kidnapper. Their intentions are good and bad respectively, with dubious consequences. Nobuyo and Osamu had intentions and consequences of their intentions that fluctuated between good, bad, and dubious, but in the present, what we see of them is a good intention with a positive impact on Yuri. If that isn't a redemption story in the fullest sense of the phrase, then I don't know what is. But such real, tangible redemption stories aren't always perceived and represented as such. We have to ask ourselves: with our good intentions, do we, as individuals and participants in larger systems, always create the best outcome?

Hannah Benson Profile picture for Hannah Benson

This film has such a calm aesthetic, yet the twists are unpredictable. It is a beautiful examination of contemporary Japan. The performances are great, especially the children. I look forward to watching Kore-eda's recent film 'The Truth.'

Hannah Eliot Profile picture for Hannah Eliot

This is such a calming, beautiful film. The kind of movie that will only get better on each rewatch. All the actors did such an incredible job here, especially the two kids. This film did drag on a bit for me at the end, but never at the expense of its imagery, which is gorgeous.

What are critics saying?

91

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

A master of threading the needle between conflict and contrivance, Kore-eda manages to turn this drama inside out without every betraying its most resonant truth.

90

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

This small film is a thoughtful addition to his parables about happy and unhappy families (Nobody Knows, After the Storm), studded with memorable characters and believable performances that quietly lead the viewer to reflect on societal values.

80

Time Out by Geoff Andrew

Boasting excellent performances all round (with the writer-director once again demonstrating his expertise with children), Shoplifters is another charming, funny and very affecting example of Kore-eda’s special brand of tough-but-tender humanism.

100

Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang

A tender ensemble piece whose skillful performances dovetail into a perfectly symphonic whole, "Shoplifters" is a work of such emotional delicacy and formal modesty that you're barely prepared when the full force of what it's doing suddenly knocks you sideways.

100

Screen International by Lee Marshall

Some of the credit must go to the stellar casting and performances. It’s difficult to single out one of the six actors in this alternative family unit as it’s a true ensemble display. But Kore-eda’s deft command of tone is a key factor too.

100

Variety by Maggie Lee

At once charming and heart-wrenching, this exquisitely performed film will steal the hearts of both art-house and mainstream audiences.

100

The Telegraph by Robbie Collin

Shoplifters is compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking with a piercing intelligence that is pure Kore-eda. This is a film that steals in and snatches your heart.

75

The Film Stage by Rory O'Connor

By drawing our empathy for such morally dubious and potentially damaging characters, Shoplifters remains a real heartbreaker, the kind of which only this director seems capable.

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