Review: Hirokazu Koreeda Weaves Another Found Family Fable In Bittersweet ‘Broker

That families come in all shapes, sizes, and configurations is perhaps one of the most important lessons to share and learn, especially today. This is a theme that acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda has covered at length and gently but expertly in award-winning films such as Like a Father, Like a Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm and the Oscar-winning Palma. 2018 saw the Heist Thief win gold.

This latest film, about a makeshift "family" of petty thieves who steal for pay, is the writer-director's latest work (and first shot in South Korea). that's what it is: human trafficking.

But what the film's mediators, Sang Hyun (Song Kang Ho, father in "Parasite") and Dong Soo (Gang Dong Won), involve stealing babies from the "baby box" of the Busan Family's church. (wall deposit for foundling newborns) and in addition to sale money for adoptions. Not all.

Of course, Sang Hyun washing his hands and Dong Soo's team working at the church could use the dough; Time is short, and Sang Hyun is the head of the local mob.

But the couple wants to make sure they find good homes for these children and help the parents-to-be avoid the time-consuming bureaucracy of the country's complicated adoption system. The men also have personal reasons to pull off this criminal trick with more pride: Sang Hyun is divorced and wants their family together, and Dong Soo grew up in an orphanage and found himself among all the forgotten children. (He knows in his heart that when a mother who has abandoned her child says she will return, she rarely, if ever, does.)

From the looks of it, the operation went pretty well for Sang Hyun and Dong Soo, who finds out how he removed the "left" baby box from the church's security cameras. However, everything changes when runaway 15-year-old sex worker Seo Yeon (K-pop star Lee Ji Eun, also known as IU) leaves her unwanted baby at the church, only to immediately reconsider her actions. But not before Sang Hyun and Dong Soo steal the baby.

More cinematic than one might believe (but let's face it), this leaves an initially frantic Seo-Young to team up with the boys to find an acceptable parenting partner for the baby and share the spoils, of course. The film then moves into street movie territory, complete with fight scenes, enhanced footage, bonding moments, and an unexpected retirement home with a cute and brave orphan named Hae Jin (Im Seung Soo). Did someone say "find a family"?

Meanwhile, two detectives, Soo-jin (Bae Doon) and Lee (Lee Joo-young), keep an eye on everything as they work to bring down the underground company. You just have to catch Sang Hyun and Dong Soo at the real sale. And, like the suspects, Soo Jin had a hand in the children's fate.

The potential for chaos, despair, and definite danger is enough (including the gangster behind Sang Hyun) to make The Broker a dark, action-packed drama at the hands of another director. But Kore-eda channels and encourages her character's gracious tone, the best of angels, and whole souls with such love and respect that we respect her preference for a more humane and empathetic personality. Amazingly, he manages to do it all without getting too sentimental.

That's not to say that this slightly too long film is devoid of intrigue, narrative twists, and deep revelations, not to mention an infusion of social commentary and moral ambiguity.

There's a lot of work here, even if it's presented in a generous and accessible way.

And if the film's somewhat elliptical ending seems more hopeful than real life might suggest, by then we were so drawn to our cast (because of the actors' good performances) that it's an interesting outlet.

Sometimes you really get to choose your family.