An unlikely meditation on family in ‘Shoplifters’

not a home that has any love in it and is certainly not a place to return to.

“This is kidnapping,” Nobuyo tells her husband Osamu. “No,” he explains, “It’s not, because we’re not asking for ransom.”

And, with that, this new, very tenuous chapter begins with Yuri as the newest Shibata family member. Shota has complicated feelings about this, feeling both protective of Yuri and also jealous that she’s now part of this little shoplifting crew (in a great scene we see Yuri thinking fast and unplugging the tackle shop’s metal detector, so Shota can run out with the merchandise). Suddenly shoplifting is not just something he and Osamu do, although you suspect that more is going on here when it’s revealed that Shota refuses to call him dad for reasons we won’t learn until later.

Things are getting more complicated, and this unstable situation becomes even shakier with every passing day. Yuri has been reported missing to the cops and is now a fixture on the local news. Osamu gets injured and can’t even do his day labour job anymore. Shota is growing up. And Nobuyo’s employment is uncertain as well.

And then a local shop owner plants a seed of doubt in Shota, telling him not to involve his sister, Yuri, in his shoplifting ways, and you realize everything is about to come crashing down. How it does is actually quite surprising and will challenge everything you thought you knew about this family.

Despite some odd choices (like having Aki work at a sex shop that recalls “Paris, Texas”) that are never quite fleshed out in a satisfying way, “Shoplifters,” overall is a slow but captivating burn that may leave you questioning your own hard-set ideas of right, wrong and family.

“Shoplifters,” a Magnolia Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “some sexual content and nudity.” Running time: 121 minutes.

Three stars out of four.