Film: Broker
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Dong-won Gang, Bae Doona, Ji-eun Lee, Lee Joo-young
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Rating: 4.5/ 5
Runtime: 129 mins
This Korean-language film with English subtitles is a drama that explores the very concept of family, human values, and bonding while bringing into focus the ‘ill’ of baby snatching and selling.
The story opens with So-young (South Korean singer IU, Lee Ji-eun) putting a newborn outside a drop box designated for orphaned infants. Additionally, you can observe two detectives (Bae Doo-na and Lee Joo-young) scouting out the area and keeping an eye on a group of baby snatchers (Song Kang-ho and Gang Dong-won) who steal newborns meant for adoption and sell them to parents who are frustrated by the formal adoption procedure.
So, when So-young returns to pick up her child, she is convinced to cooperate with the brokers who have come to kidnap newborns in order to provide the police with evidence of their illegal activities.
More realities about each character are exposed as the story progresses and the brokers meet up with childless couples who are potential purchasers. These truths include sympathies and judgements on abandonment, snatching, and selling of infants. Here, each character has a unique outlook that sets them apart from one another. We learn important insights about So-past young’s and get to see how she continues to work with the investigators. The cops’ actions and the somewhat clumsy end-play, which is meant to be a pleasant set-up, are among the storyline points that feel forced and fake.
Kore-eda wants us to reevaluate how we perceive his characters by using this dramedy on child trafficking. Are these people actually the real bad guys, or is the Korean foster system to blame since it simply isn’t providing enough for an abandoned child to grow up in a loving, caring, and secure environment?
This is also an alluring tale about people brought together by circumstance who support one another in surviving the numerous vicissitudes of a harsher world, as he demonstrated in his earlier film “Shoplifters,” which we saw. Hirokazu Kore-eda creates a comprehensive analysis of personalities who break the mould while praising the unexpected ways they deal with their situations. While the authentic acting adds gravitas and the classically inspired background music and editing give the story feel and rhythm, it’s really the dull tone and the surprisingly predictable course of events that prevent this movie from being considered one of his greatest.
source from: msn.com
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