SHOPLIFTERS – Review

Once again a lauded international filmmaker is taking an unfiltered look at family life. You might think that I’m talking about the current awards “darling” ROMA from director Alfonso Cuaron, in theatres and streaming on Netflix (really). No, this new film may be giving it some competition in the Best Foreign Film category (it has snatched up the prize in a few festivals and year-end critics group awards). Oh, this film is set in modern times, is in color, and its setting is half the planet away. And the ROMA family is, at least, upper-middle-class. These folks, well, definitely lower, much lower. This Tokyo-based clan truly struggles to survive and provide. That’s the main reason (along with misfortunate and misery) this family becomes SHOPLIFTERS.

As we meet two of them, the aforementioned crime is well in progress. “Papa” Osamu (Lilly Franky) and nine-year-old Shota (Kairi Jo) are roaming a grocery store, stuffing food into their clothing as they act as “lookouts” for each other (and distracting the clerks and managers). As they head home they notice a familiar sight. A sweet-faced five-year-old girl named Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) is alone and neglected, sitting in the cold patio outside her apartment. Fearing for her safety, Osamu impulsively reaches in and takes her with them (thinking that a hot meal will help before bringing her back). This causes quite a ruckus in the squalid tiny apartment that the duo shares with “Grandma'” Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), “Mama” Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), who works at a dry cleaners, and nineteen-year-old Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) who spends her days as a “hostess” at a “gentleman’s private club”. Actually, Hatsue is the main provider as she receives a monthly pension check via her late husband and a regular “gift” from the offspring of the woman who was her late hubby’s second wife. Plus the apartment is in her name only, so they all have a “hiding plan” in case of a visit from the landlord. Life becomes direr as Osamu is injured on the job at a construction site (no insurance, of course) and Nobuyo is let go (after she’s rifled through the pockets of all the clients’ clothes). After discovering some suspicious scars, Yuri becomes a part of the “family”, and soon the local media reports of her “kidnapping”. She’s quickly given a new name and haircut, and to Shota’s chagrin, trained in retail thievery. When a heartbreaking tragedy occurs in the household, a hard decision is made that further puts everyone at risk. Will the authorities discover their actions and break-up the loving, but illegal household?

Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda touches upon several themes of friendship and family he explored previously in AFTER THE STORM and the unexpected charmer OUR LITTLE SISTER (which was based on a popular manga-style graphic novel). The superb camerawork conveys the near-claustrophobic living conditions in just one or two rooms that seemed to be constantly caked with grime and grit. Still, there’s a sense of mystery and wonder in these muddy back alleys and ramshackle confines. Even in the daylight hours danger hangs heavy in the air as Shota and his different “aides” try and slip past the unaware shopkeepers. Despite the title, the family (especially Shota) has a “code of honor”, perhaps to justify their actions. They believe the things they take out of bins and shelves don’t belong to anyone until purchased (twisted logic, eh). Luckily the young lad’s eyes are finally opened when a line is crossed (a bit of B and E). Koreeda guides the great ensemble expertly, with Kiki terrific as a tough and cynical matriarch. Franky is a clown full of pathos, yearning to connect with his “kids”, while Ando, as his partner, seems more world-weary than her “Grandmama”, her eyes dulled by disappointment. The most tragic may be Matsuoka, who is pinning all her hope for the future on a handsome and wealthy young “patron”, thinking that he will be the “Prince Charming” to whisk her away from the filth and famine. Yes, the story is sympathetic to these criminals, but their activities are never played as noble (other than the rescue of Yuri) or fun. And the pacing drags a bit, making us wish for a fifteen or twenty trim to tighten the story’s flow. But this is an engaging look at the class system of a different culture and how families are formed and survive. Plus it helps that these SHOPLIFTERS are also scene stealers.

3.5 Out of 5

SHOPLIFTERS opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas