Broker (2022) continues writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s run of earnest examinations of fractured families, blood-related and otherwise. This newest film unfolds in Korea, where Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won) work as baby brokers. What does that mean? Step one, they collect babies abandoned by their parents. Step two is selling them to affluent couples who, for whatever reason, cannot have children of their own. They have a smooth operation until Moon So-young (Lee Ji-eun) returns for the baby she dropped at a church. Reaching a tenuous truce, the trio embarks on a cross-city journey to find the best buyer for Moon’s son Woo-sung. All the while, detectives Soo-jin (Doona Bae) and Lee (Lee Joo-young) track them waiting for the baby sale so they can arrest the brokers.
On the page, Kore-eda sets himself the challenge of a veritable compendium of tones and characters. The brokers and Moon, especially once they are joined by stowaway orphan Hae-jin (Im Seung-soo), have a certain Little Miss Sunshine (2006) quality to their quest. Darkness and melancholy linger, but they collectively radiate charming humor, right down to their ratty van. For the detectives, shades of “buddy comedy” flicker in between more intense debates about crime and their active pursuit. Sequences and sub-plots about an orphanage and a murder investigation fold in further hues to Kore-eda’s script. What binds them, and in turn makes it work with few hiccups, is the connective thematic tissue; family. Every character in Broker grapples with a familial relationship or the absence of one. Dong-soo was abandoned as a child. Sang-hyeon approaches estrangement from his daughter. On and on.
The miracle is that, for all the morally questionable activities they undertake, our hearts ache for Sang-hyeon, Dong-soo, and Moon. Kore-eda has a gift for framing stories concerned with major social issues as intimate human dramas. In different hands, Broker becomes a gloomy and cynical indictment of the cultural failings at play. Kore-eda does plenty to critique the underlying issues, but commentary never supersedes humanity. It is through conversations and interactions that a kaleidoscope of empathy refracts both characters and audiences, projecting, in the end, a stirring portrait of courageous lives lived under great strain. At moments, that commitment swerves Broker into saccharine territory, but the overall experience makes it easy to forgive Kore-eda’s melodramatic digressions. He displays splintered hearts and souls with such grace that Broker always returns to stable footing.
A great deal of this is thanks to an altogether exceptional slew of performances. Broker is an ensemble film in the truest sense: it does not work without every actor rising to their showcase moments and supporting their colleagues during their own. That fact is a staple of Kore-eda’s filmography, and this may be one of his strongest groups to date. Lee Ji-eun is a standout. As Moon’s backstory gradually comes into focus, she modulates her work to reflect every new revelation. She is also confronted with the task of playing Moon as a caring and tragic figure, someone who truly loves her son but can only work with the life she is stuck in. All the while also projecting a wry sense of humor, especially in her many scenes with Gang Dong-won. The two are nothing less than heartbreaking and invigorating together.
Kore-eda knows what he has, and directs the film with a classical elegance that foregrounds his cast. There are no sweeping long-takes or other “Look at me!” aesthetic choices. This is not to say that Broker is without driving energy. On the contrary, Kore-eda’s directorial decisions, aided no doubt by his also serving as editor, play out with a restraint that slips into breathtaking beauty. A scene where Dong-soo and a friend from his old orphanage talk and kick a can at dusk in front of the ocean is gorgeous. A pair of interwoven conversations on a Ferris-wheel ride is a clinic in how to gracefully frame and present poignant moments without overplaying them. All of Broker confirms that Kore-eda has a sixth sense for how long to let a shot linger for maximum effect. He is in no rush, and his films benefit immensely from it.
Broker is another confident film from one of our great directors. You will laugh, cry, and want nothing more than to hug your family when it’s done. I call that a job exceedingly well done.
Broker opens in select theaters on December 26, 2022 courtesy of NEON.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm3B-fDc9Xw]
Broker is another confident film from one of our great directors. You will laugh, cry, and want nothing more than to hug your family when it's done. I call that a job exceedingly well done.
Devin McGrath-Conwell holds a B.A. in Film / English from Middlebury College and is currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson College. His obsessions include all things horror, David Lynch, the darkest of satires, and Billy Joel. Devin’s writing has also appeared in publications such as Filmhounds Magazine, Film Cred, Horror Homeroom, and Cinema Scholars.
