SHOPLIFTERS

Stolen moments…

With his formal composure, patient storytelling and favouring of familial dramas, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (Still Walking, I Wish) is frequently compared to the great Yasujirôō Ozu (Tokyo Story, Late Autumn). Shoplifters, which nabbed the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, is a little more energetic in its action and cluttered in its framing than we’re used to from Kore-eda, but again examines the (mis)fortunes of a family, albeit one this time connected by circumstance rather than blood.

The makeshift unit consists of a construction worker and his wife, who job-shares in a laundry, plus a teenage daughter employed in a peep show, an elderly woman who lives off her former husband’s pension, and a young boy. Already having to steal to survive, they nonetheless take in another waif, Juri (Miyu Sasaki), whose presence both adds to their struggle and the cheer they manage to find within it.

Pretty much plotless, Shoplifters rather observes the dynamic of our ragtag protagonists’ everyday existence, by turns fun and fractious. It’s a moving drama imbued with generous human spirit, but Kore-eda is too skilled a director to allow for cheap sentiment. Here, bonds can be broken and reality bites. Jamie Graham

THE VERDICT

Beautifully acted by a rambunctious ensemble, this is another gem from one of the most consistent directors working today.

The family, which steals to survive, is thrown into disarray when they take in another child.