"Manbiki Kazoku" (Shoplifters) is director Hirokazu Koreeda's latest feature-length film, which he also wrote and edited. The work won the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival last month, the first Japanese film to do so in 21 years.
This film tells the story of an unusual family living on the fringes of Tokyo that invites the audience to face and ponder the world we live in today.
A boy named Shota (played by Kairi Jo) lives in an old, one-story detached house standing among tall buildings. This house is owned by his grandmother Hatsue (Kirin Kiki). His father Osamu (Lily Franky) does not earn enough money to provide for the family, and his mother Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) has a low-paying job at a laundry. His mother's younger sister Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) also lives with them. They mainly live on their grandmother's pension. In their poverty, Osamu and Shota shoplift as a team to make up for their shortage of living resources.
On one cold winter day, on their way home from stealing at a supermarket, Osamu and Shota find a 5-year-old girl (Miyu Sasaki) shivering outside her apartment. They feel pity for the girl and bring her home with them. Although Osamu's family soon feels they should return her home, they hesitate because they find some signs that she has been abused by her parents. They decide to accept her as a family member.
Their house is filled with all types of things no one is sure they need. To keep living as a family, they tell lies and commit petty crimes one after another. Why are they doing this? Director Koreeda gradually reveals their secrets and deep emotions while depicting their lives as the seasons of the year change.
The film also intimates these characters' hidden pasts, emotional wounds and the happiness they feel when finding someone with whom they want to have ties. The actors give physical expression to the feelings and thoughts in the minds of these characters. They are also reflected in scenes captured by the eyes of cinematographer Ryuto Kondo.
Over the course of time, pure things wrapped in dirty things gradually come into view. The family's place in society, which doesn't attract a second glance from anyone, seems to be a kind of sanctuary at some moments.
The story goes beyond being an arm's-length matter for the audience, especially when they see a grown-up Shota start to have second thoughts about stealing. This film questions what justice is, and whether it truly exists. Thinking about these things stirs the audience's emotions. You'll find yourself beginning to share his views, while gazing at this world.
In his past films, Koreeda depicted people overlooked by society, true familial ties, people punishing others and the like. In "Shoplifters," he delves deeper into these matters. In other words, he and his cast have broken through the tidy facade of the world to explore what they find behind it. It seems as if they are trying hard to smash through the suffocating atmosphere of today's society, where what superficially looks like justice goes unchallenged.
In these respects, this two-hour film is a typical Koreeda work. At the same time, it is new and fresh. The featured actors also display aspects that will probably appear new to the audience. This film also depicts a process in which someone's lonely heart pining for a person is filled with affection by embracing that person. The music by Haruomi Hosono is splendid and greatly adds to the film.
This film, in Japanese, is showing at Toho Cinemas Hibiya and other cinemas. gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/
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