Shoplifters (2018)

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It starts like Shameless: Tokyo Edition; father-son duo Osamu (Lily Franky) and Shota (Jyo Kairi) do a bit of shoplifting, mother Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) isn't averse to rifling through pockets at the commercial laundry she works at. The sister (Mayu Matsuoka) works at a peep show and grandma (Kirin Kiki) supports the lot of them on her pension.

When Osamu finds a young girl named Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) outside in the freezing cold, he takes her home, where she is adopted into their unconventional but happy family.

The quote is that all happy families are alike, but I've never found that to be true. No family is happy all the time; the closer you get, the more you can see the damage. Shoplifters brings us in to the family, past the superficial kindnesses to the fierce, raw, fragile love inside, to the co-dependence, to the secrets laid bare.

The Shibata's relationships are more fragile than most, and their truths darker, but they still have something beautiful.

I haven't seen a Hirokazu Kore-eda film since Nobody Knows (and won't that catalogue be a treat to catch up on). He seems to have spent the intervening decade sharpening the same themes into a razor-sharp stiletto to the heart. Just fantastic, with wonderful performances across the board but especially Sakura Ando, the luminous Mona Lisa at the centre of it all.

- Sam - 2018-12-01 23:06:40