Shoplifters
(Manbiki kazoku)(2018)
Filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, modern master behind acclaimed Japanese family dramas such as Like Father, Like Son and Our Little Sister, won the 2018 Palme d'Or at Cannes with this tale following a family of small-time crooks who take in a child they find on the streets.... More
Kore-eda has been nominated for the Palme d'Or four times previously for Our Little Sister, Like Father, Like Son, Nobody Knows, and Distance.Hide
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Palme d'Or, Cannes 2018
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Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda ('After the Storm', 'Our Little Sister', 'Like Father, Like Son', 'I Wish', 'Still Walking')
Starring Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Sôsuke Ikematsu, Sakura Andô, Mayu Matsuoka
Written by Hirokazu Koreeda
Flicks Review
BY Amanda Robinson Flicks Writer
Family dramas are often at their most heartwarming when concerned with crime families, and in this tradition, Shoplifters is an utterly moving exemplar.... More
The film follows a household of entangled drifters on the outskirts of Tokyo doing the best they can to get by; an intermittently employed day labourer and his wife, a low-paid housekeeper; a pre-teen boy and a woman in her twenties; and an elderly woman, whose pension increasingly supports the family. The film begins when they take in another stray—a five-year-old girl they find hiding from her abusive parents—and educate her in the tricks of small-time theft. Excellent performances from every member of this charming familial ensemble cinch this compelling drama.
Written and directed by Japanese superstar and master of group dynamics Hirokazu Kore-eda, the script is economical and exacting, gracefully rendering the way poverty magnifies everyday nuisance; forgetting shampoo, spraining an ankle, a cold snap. The film is an expert study in what holds people together in mundanity and in crisis—love and care, sure, but also alibis. No wonder it won the Palme d’Or.
An incredible portrait of generosity and precarity, Shoplifters is just splendid.Hide
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Shoplifters
The Press Reviews
It is a movie made up of delicate brushstrokes: details, moments, looks and smiles. Full Review
Studded with memorable characters and believable performances that quietly lead the viewer to reflect on societal values. Full Review
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. Full Review
Compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking with a piercing intelligence that is pure Kore-eda. This is a film that steals in and snatches your heart. Full Review
At once charming and heart-wrenching, this exquisitely performed film will steal the hearts of both art-house and mainstream audiences. Full Review
Where Shoplifters ultimately goes is at once unexpected and inevitable, arriving at a startling, powerful conclusion that is carried on the back of one of the strongest screen ensembles in years. Full Review
Another charming, funny and very affecting example of Kore-eda's special brand of tough-but-tender humanism. Full Review
While perhaps not quite as absorbing as the likes of Like Father or Little Sister, this is nonetheless another superb example of Kore-eda's ability to weave a very Japanese story that has global appeal. Full Review
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