Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japanese movie Shoplifters is the 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or Winner and 2019 Academy Award nominee for Foreign Language Film.  The movie follows an oddball band of outsiders on the margins of Tokyo. They demonstrate a fierce loyalty with a penchant for petty theft and playful ways of making money dishonestly.

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The fun and games end with the young son getting arrested. Secrets come to the surface and expose what little stability they did hold below-the-radar existence. They feel strong belief is not the blood that defines a family, but love defines the family. The premise is questioned and discussed throughout the movie

Kore-eda’s credits include Like Father, Like Son and Nobody Knows. Shoplifters movie is similar to these movies as an emotional exploration of the perseverance and tenacity of society’s outcasts and the love that sustains them. It is obvious why the movie won the Palme. The simplicity of the tender storytelling of inviting me to be a part of the imperfect people, showing what an oddball meaning to the family. Perhaps, redefining what a family is by showing a group of misfits similar sharing and behaving similarly to a family connected by blood.

“Shoplifters might be similar to Nobody Knows in the sense that this film also explores closely the sort of ‘punished’ families we regularly see in news reports. It wasn’t my intention simply to describe a poor family or the lower levels of the social strata. I rather think that the family in the film ended up gathering in that house not to collapse there. I wanted to shine a light on such a family from a different angle,” adds Kore-eda.

Like a voyeur, Shoplifters draws me into their daily lives through various circumstances developed and bonded together as a way to survive. Centered in the family’s cohesiveness is achieving their livelihood through petty theft and grifting. The children of the group are played beautifully and endearing by Jyo Kairi and Miyu Sasaki. I ponder the director’s uncanny ability to facilitate the actors as a cohesive metaphor to the brilliance of life itself.

“I started to think about which elements were unfolded and would be examined deeply after the casting was settled. As a result, this film is packed with the various elements I have been thinking about and exploring these last 10 years. It is the story of what family means, a story about a man trying to be a father, and furthermore, a coming-of-age story of a boy,” explains Kore-eda

The movie is worth watching, but it is in Japanese with English subtitles.