Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku)

 

Hirokazu Kore-eda (Still Walking, Like Father Like Son) returns with this Oscar-nominated, Palme d'Or-winning masterpiece about the forces holding an impoverished family together on the outskirts of Tokyo.

 

Osamu (Lily Franky), his wife Nobuyu (Sakura Ando) and grandma Hatsue (Kirin Kiki) head the Shibatas, a low-income family struggling away in a tiny corner of Tokyo. After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son meet a little girl foraging for scraps in the freezing cold, and decide to take her in. She's initially regarded as yet another unwelcome mouth to feed, but the scars on her body convince everyone to secretly adopt her - until an unforeseen incident begins to test their bond...

 

Kore-eda shines a spotlight on the struggling classes in Japan (where shoplifting is rare and particularly shameful) with his usual delicacy, insight, compassion and humour. A triumph of subtlety over spectacle, it will steal your heart - and, ultimately, ask you to reflect on where you belong - and what belongs to you.