Koreeda’s Shoplifters: A Cannes triumph

After seeing Shoplifters …

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Jona: Clever narrative. Like peeling an onion, layer by layer, until all was revealed. I thought the boy, Shota, was a girl at first.

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Emiko: Violence lurked. Killings, burials.

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Jona: But no victims or violence ever seen.

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Emiko: Just alluded to. Subtle.

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Jona: And, poor as they were, they laughed a lot.

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Emiko: All were positive about solving their problems. Didn’t sit around at home.

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Jona: Diligent about going off to their jobs when they could get work.

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Voice-over

Brilliant. Part Kurosawa, part Ozu, part Mizoguchi, synthesizing many great Japanese directors.

Ten years in the making, and it shows in the care Koreeda takes in telling the story. Gradually revealing that almost no one in this “family” is even related to one another. The sympathy in his portrayal of people coping with poverty and what happens to them. Very LIKE!

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