Review: A Baby For Sale In Korean Drama ‘Broker
The Korean drama The Broker began as a film noir. A young woman walks slowly through the rain in Busan at midnight, her thin hat doing little to keep her dry. She seems distracted but determined, and we soon see her destination: a church with a collection jar labeled "Baby Box." Just then we saw something rustling from behind his hooded jacket. But it did not open. He carefully placed the baby on the ground, wrapped it in a blanket and left.
Luckily for the kid, two detectives are guarding the kid's box. One of them, Soo Jin (Bae Dong), goes out to put the baby in a box. The other, Detective Lee (Lee Joo Young), is looking for a mysterious woman. They suspect a child trafficking ring is operating out of the church and must catch the criminals in the middle of their sales.
However, The Broker is neither a crime thriller nor an emotional drama. Yes, two cops follow a guy who has a shady business selling orphaned and abandoned children to rich landlords. Yes, there is a shadow of a big criminal syndicate here. And yes, there are enough problems with bankruptcy.
But despite all the elements of a certain type of movie, writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda had something else in mind. In The Broker, he made silent travelogues about kind souls and their temporary families in difficult circumstances.
Anyone who's seen the Japanese director's Shoplifters will recognize similar stories, from familiar sides to a kinder take on the fringes of society, but The Broker takes the genre roles of the film a step further. and expectations. Unexpected and instructive ways detectives, women and men wore fanny packs.
Kid boxing isn't from a dystopian future, it's a real thing in Japan and Korea, well-intentioned but also highly controversial. Some wonder if this makes it easier for parents to "avoid" their children. Or is it a public service for the most desperate in a society where single mothers are shamed?
These questions are tenderly asked and discussed in the film, but Brooker is not interested in definitive or moral answers, but in compassion for the desperate situations of both mothers and their abandoned children.
Ha Sang-hyun (played by "Parasite" Song Kang-ho) is the mastermind behind the operation, but he's not a cunning, soulless criminal mastermind who only uses babies and children as vehicles for profit. In fact, her nursery actually presents itself as a sweet place of love and care for the youngest and most vulnerable children.
He and his right-hand man Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won) celebrate with this newcomer. his name is Woo-seon and his mother says she will come back for him. They know from experience that this rarely happens, especially when neither parent has a name or number. But the initial twist is that the mother, Moon Seo-yeon (Lee Ji-yoon), returns, and soon the three set out to sell Woo-sung to his legal parents (sort of a Goldilocks scenario). There's a light, almost comical touch to these interactions that doesn't make much sense.
The Broker is definitely a slow burn that feels a little repetitive at times, though the performance of Hae Jin (Im Seung Soo) as an 8-year-old orphan with dreams of the Premier League helps the film overcome its rough patches. .
It also has an emotional charge and a few other surprises, but more importantly, remember that filmmakers exploring social ills don't need to turn something into a celebration of suffering to do so effectively and powerfully. .
Brokerage, NEON's current theatrical release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association "for multiple languages." Duration: 129 minutes. Three out of four is great.
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Definition of MPA R. Limited. Children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
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Follow AP Film writer Lindsey Bahr at www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
