08 Jan 2020
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Japan
2018
121 min
Shoplifters is a complex, profoundly moving drama about the forces holding a struggling family together. Osamu, his wife Nobuyu and grandma Hatsue head the Shibatas family. Poverty- stricken and living in a ramshackle Tokyo bungalow, they routinely turn to petty thieving to make ends meet. After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and son Shota happen upon a little girl foraging for scraps in the freezing cold and take her in. Despite the continued hardships of their existence, this newly modified family lives happily until an unforeseen incident begins to test their bond. Focusing on an unconventional domestic unit with insight, compassion and humour, Director Kore-eda gives rare prominence to Japanese society’s urban underclass and questions the possibilities of survival within life on the margins.
Cannes Film Festival 2018 – Winner of Palme d’Or