Cinematic Point Of View

I rewatched Hirokazu Koreeda film Broker over the weekend. This is a heartfelt story about abandonment and breaking the cycle. It’s a story about trust and family.

Rejection. Failure. Regret. Understanding. Love. Compassion. Honesty. Hope. All those familiar spices of life are here. Koreeda sets the heat to simmer and slow cooks up another special movie, seasoned to perfection.

One rainy night, a young Korean woman leaves her unwanted baby outside a “baby box” at a church. Two female detectives sit in a car watching. A man working at the church retrieves the baby and erases the video tape of the incident. He works with a partner to sell unwanted babies on the black market. He’s a broker.

Through a series of circumstances I won’t spoil here, the baby brokers and the young mother go on a journey to find a home for her child, all the while being watched by the police.

On the surface this all sounds very dark and depressing but Broker is actually an incredibly kind and humanistic film. In many ways this is a road comedy. There is a surprising amount of humor throughout the story considering the circumstances. Light moments when you forget what’s going on and you see the people behind the stories just trying to survive.

This is part of Koreeda’s magic.

He brings what can be uncomfortable subjects and situations out of the shadows and let’s you see them in the sunlight from every angle. His other favorite magical move is not casting judgement. He leaves it up to you to ask questions and create your own opinions. I think this is partially why he is so often compared to Ozu.

The performances by Song Kang-ho, IU, Bae Doona, and Gang Dong-won are all so gentle and honest. Emotions quietly come to the surface in every scene. You grow to care and understand every character in this film. Even the side characters.

The film’s soundtrack by Jung Jae-il is light and lovely. It gives the film just the right bit of emotional resonance to pick you up and keep you moving forward with hope.

In the end, the story will likely leave you asking questions and rooting for humanity. Every person, each one of their stories, is an important part of this journey. There are no easy answers. Life isn’t black and white.

Broker is another humanistic masterpiece by one of the modern filmmaking masters.