BROKER
★★★★
OUT NOW / CERT 12A / 129 MINS
DIRECTOR Hirokazu Kore-eda
CAST Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Lee Ji-eun, Bae Doo-na
Making his first film in Korea, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with another sad-funny-wise take on finding connections wherever we discover them. Young mother So-young (Lee Ji-eun) abandons her son to a church-affiliated Baby Box, only for the boy to be stolen by a couple of child traffickers. But before the pair can cash in, So-young tracks them down and demands to be let in on the action. What follows is a lovely study of a makeshift family living on the fringes of society as the threesome plus baby go on the road looking for prospective buyers. If it’s not God-tier Kore-eda, Broker explores the toughest themes — emotional and physical abandonment — with the gentlest touch. Treat yourself.