''Shoplifters'' () is a 2018 Japanese
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed, written and edited by
Hirokazu Kore-eda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including ''Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...
. Starring
Lily Franky
is a Japanese illustrator, writer and actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films since 2001.
Career
In 2016, Franky received the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film at Japan Cuts
JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film is a ...
and
Sakura Ando
is a Japanese actress.
Career
Ando won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival 2010 for ''Love Exposure'', ''The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio'' and '' Tsumitoka batsutoka''. She was also nominated for the a ...
,
it is about a family that relies on
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
to cope with a life of poverty.
Kore-eda wrote the screenplay contemplating what makes a family,
and inspired by reports on poverty and shoplifting in Japan.
Principal photography began in mid-December 2017.
''Shoplifters'' premiered on 13 May 2018 at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
,
where it won the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
.
The film was released in Japan on 8 June 2018 and was a critical and commercial success. ''Shoplifters'' won three
Mainichi Film Award
The
are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan.
History
The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...
s, including
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
and the
Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film The winners and nominees of the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film are
Winners and nominees
2000s
2010's
References
External links
*
{{Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Film
Awards for best Asian film
Lists of fi ...
,
and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and the
Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
.
Plot
In
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, a family live together in poverty: Hatsue, an elderly woman who owns the home and supports them with her deceased husband's pension, Nobuyo, who works for an industrial laundry service, her husband Osamu, a
day laborer
Day labor (or day labour in Commonwealth spelling) is work done where the worker is hired and paid one day at a time, with no promise that more work will be available in the future. It is a form of contingent work.
Types
Day laborers (also ...
forced to leave his job after twisting his ankle, Aki, who works at a
fetish club, and Shota, a young boy.
Osamu and Shota routinely shoplift from stores, using a system of hand signals to communicate. Osamu tells Shota it is fine to steal things that have not been sold, as they do not belong to anyone. One cold night, they see Yuri, a neighborhood girl they regularly observe locked out on an apartment balcony, and bring her home with them. They only intend to have her stay for dinner, but after finding evidence of
abuse, they choose not to return her.
Yuri bonds with her new family and learns to shoplift from Osamu and Shota. Osamu urges Shota to see him as his father and Yuri as his sister, but Shota is reluctant. The family learns on television that after almost two months, police are investigating Yuri's disappearance; her parents never reported her missing. The family cuts her hair, burns her old clothes, and renames her Lin.
Hatsue visits her husband's son from an affair, from whom she regularly receives money. The son and his wife are Aki's parents; they lie that their daughter is living in Australia. The family visits the beach and Hatsue expresses contentment that she will not die a lonely death. At home that night, she dies in her sleep. Osamu and Nobuyo bury her under the house in order to avoid reporting her death and continue to collect her pension.
Osamu steals a purse from a car, making Shota feel uneasy, since he considers this theft against their moral code. Shota recalls joining the family after Nobuyo and Osamu found him in a locked car. Increasingly guilt-ridden about teaching Yuri to steal, Shota interrupts her theft by stealing fruit from a grocery store in view of the staff. Cornered, he jumps from a bridge and breaks his leg.
Shota is hospitalized and detained by police. Nobuyo and Osamu are caught after attempting to flee with Yuri and Aki. The authorities discover Yuri and the death of Hatsue and tell Shota that the family was going to abandon him. They reveal to Aki that Nobuyo and Osamu previously killed Nobuyo's abusive husband in a
crime of passion
A crime of passion (French: ''crime passionnel''), in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially homicide, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as anger rather than as a premed ...
, and that Hatsue was receiving money from Aki's parents.
Nobuyo takes the blame for the crimes to protect Osamu, who has a previous
criminal record
A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...
, and is sentenced to prison. Shota is placed in an orphanage. Osamu and Shota visit Nobuyo in prison, and she gives Shota details of the car they found him in so he can search for his parents. Shota stays overnight with Osamu, against the orphanage's rules. When Shota asks, Osamu tells him the truth, confirming that they intended to abandon him, and says he can no longer be his father.
The next morning, as he is about to depart, Shota says that he allowed himself to be caught. Osamu runs after Shota's bus; Shota looks back and finally acknowledges Osamu as his father. Yuri is returned to her parents, who continue to neglect her, and looks wistfully back at the house she shared with the family.
Cast
Production
Director
Hirokazu Kore-eda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including ''Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...
said that he developed the story for ''Shoplifters'' when considering his earlier film ''
Like Father, Like Son'', with the question "What makes a family?"
He had been considering a film exploring this question for 10 years before making ''Shoplifters''. Kore-eda described it as his "socially conscious" film. With this story, Kore-eda said he did not want the perspective to be from only a few individual characters, but to capture "the family within the society", a "wide point of view" in the vein of his 2004 film ''
Nobody Knows''.
He set his story in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
and was also influenced by the Japanese Recession,
including media reports of how people lived in poverty and of shoplifting.
To research the project, Kore-eda toured an orphanage and wrote a scene inspired by a girl there who read from ''
Swimmy'' by
Leo Lionni. Kore-eda said,
Lily Franky
is a Japanese illustrator, writer and actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films since 2001.
Career
In 2016, Franky received the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film at Japan Cuts
JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film is a ...
and
Sakura Ando
is a Japanese actress.
Career
Ando won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival 2010 for ''Love Exposure'', ''The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio'' and '' Tsumitoka batsutoka''. She was also nominated for the a ...
joined the cast before
principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began in mid-December 2017.
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...
s Sasaki Miyu and Jyo Kairi were cast for their first film.
Sosuke Ikematsu
(born July 9, 1990) is a Japanese actor, television, and theatre actor best known for his role as Higen, the young nephew of samurai leader Katsumoto, in the 2003 film ''The Last Samurai''.
Life and career
Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefectur ...
,
Chizuru Ikewaki and
Yūki Yamada joined the cast in February. It was also one of the last films
Kirin Kiki
(15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress for Japanese cinema and television.
Biography
Kiki was born on January 15, 1943, in Kanda, Tokyo. Her father was a master of the ''biwa'' lute and a former police officer. Her moth ...
appeared in before her death in 2018.
Production began in December 2017, with
Fuji Television Network
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...
, Gaga, and AOI Pro producing.
Cinematographer Kondo Ryuto used
35 mm film with an
Arricam
Arricam is a 35 mm movie camera line manufactured by Arri.
Description
It is Arri's flagship sync-sound camera line, replacing the Arriflex 535 line. The design was developed by Fritz Gabriel Bauer and Walter Trauninger, and is heavily deriv ...
ST, aware 35 mm was a preference of Kore-eda's and also seeking the right texture and
grain for the story.
Release
With Gaga Corporation as its distributor,
the film was selected to screen at the
2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it went on to win the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
. In Japan, it was scheduled for release on 8 June 2018.
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...
also obtained the rights to distribute the film in North America. On 23 May 2018,
Thunderbird Releasing acquired the UK distribution rights, while Road Pictures secured the rights to distribute it in China.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed () in Japan by the end of 2018, making it the fourth
highest-grossing domestic film of the year and the second
highest-grossing Japanese live-action film of the year (after ''
Code Blue
Hospital emergency codes are coded messages often announced over a public address system of a hospital to alert staff to various classes of on-site emergencies. The use of codes is intended to convey essential information quickly and with minimal ...
'').
In China, the film grossed ,
in what ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' called "an unprecedentedly strong performance for an imported pure arthouse drama". ''Shoplifters'' also grossed $3,313,513 in the United States and Canada, and $17,398,743 in other territories, for a worldwide total of .
This makes it the most successful commercially of the five nominees for the
2019 Academy Award for Best International Film.
In its tenth weekend of release in the United States and Canada, following its Oscar nomination, the film made $190,000 from 114 theaters, for a running total of $2.5 million up until then.
Home media
In the United Kingdom, it was 2019's fourth best-selling
foreign language film
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...
on
home video
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
, below the
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
anime films ''
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distrib ...
'', ''
My Neighbor Totoro
is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story o ...
'' and ''
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...
''.
Critical response
![Hirokazu Kore-eda Cannes 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Hirokazu_Kore-eda_Cannes_2015.jpg)
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Understated yet ultimately deeply affecting, ''Shoplifters'' adds another powerful chapter to director
Hirokazu Kore-eda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including ''Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...
's richly humanistic filmography." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". ''Shoplifters'' was also listed on numerous critics' top ten lists for 2018.
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave ''Shoplifters'' 4/5 stars, declaring it a "rich, satisfying film",
but subsequently upgraded this to a 5/5 star review upon second viewing.
''The Guardian'' later ranked the film 15th in its Best Films of the 21st Century list. ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' critic Deborah Young called it "bittersweet" as it "contrasts the frigid emotions of socially correct behavior with the warmth and happiness of a dishonest lower-class family". Robbie Collin of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' awarded it five stars, hailing it as an "outstanding domestic drama, crafted by Kore-eda with crystalline insight and an unsparing emotional acuity".
For ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
'', David Ehrlich gave it a grade of "A−" and wrote the film "stings" with "the loneliness of not belonging to anyone, and the messiness of sticking together". ''
TheWrap
''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman
Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
''s Ben Croll declared it Kore-eda's "richest film to date". In ''
Time Out'', Geoff Andrew gave it four stars and saluted Kore-eda as "a modern-day
Ozu". ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''s Maggie Lee also compared it to ''
Oliver Twist'' by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
;
Lily Franky's character Osamu was likewise compared to Dickens' character
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...
.
In Japan, ''
The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched b ...
'' gave ''Shoplifters'' five stars, writing "The cheers are entirely deserved" and credited it for an "outwardly naturalistic" style.
Accolades
The film competed at the Cannes Film Festival,
where it won the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
on 19 May.
It was the first Japanese Palme d'Or-winner since ''
The Eel'' in 1997. Jury president
Cate Blanchett explained the decision: "We were completely bowled over by ''Shoplifters''. How intermeshed the performances were with the directorial vision".
In July 2018, ''Shoplifters'' also won Best International Film at the
Munich Film Festival
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, with the jury citing it by stating it "opens up new possibilities and ultimately offers
..hope".
In August, ''Shoplifters'' was selected as the Japanese entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
91st Academy Awards
The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, ...
.
It made the December shortlist in 2018,
before being nominated for the Academy Award in January 2019.
See also
*
*
* ''
Parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
'', a 2019 South Korean film about the wealth gap and class divide in an East Asian country. The film has been frequently compared to ''Shoplifters''
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoplifters
2018 films
2018 drama films
Japanese drama films
2010s Japanese-language films
Films about families
Films about missing people
Films about poverty
Films about theft
Films directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Films set in Tokyo
Palme d'Or winners
Best Foreign Film César Award winners
Best Foreign Film Guldbagge Award winners
Asian Film Award for Best Film winners
Films with screenplays by Hirokazu Kore-eda
2010s Japanese films