Broker (2022) User Reviews (74)

Affecting thought-provoking social drama with a great performance from Song Kang-Ho

[ObsessiveCinemaDisorder · 8/10 · 24 July 2022]

Broker, the latest film from Shoplifters director Hirokazu Koreeda, is an affecting arthouse social drama and features solid performances from its ensemble, led by Parasite's Song Kang-ho. The script, cleverly-written with a beating heart, opens up a well-rounded discussion about baby rights.

Sang-hyeon, a laundromat owner and his friend Dong-soo volunteer at a church with a baby box, which they use to conduct an illegal business of selling babies to rich families on the adoption black market.

So-young, a young mother who returns the next day after dropping her baby in the box, discovers their operation and decides to join them in finding the proper family for her child. As they set out on their road trip, two detectives are hot on their trail...

When the film started, I had never heard of a baby box before. I thought it was a fictional satirical premise, like Black Mirror. "A church has an open 24-hour box that lets people drop unwanted babies anonymously. Ha-ha. Gotcha." Hirokazu Koreeda's slice-of-life cinema vérité style then slowly sank in through these long ponderous shots, I realized these boxes actually exist.

Song Kang-ho, who nabbed the Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival this year for his performance, is naturalistic and precise. You cannot put a pin through it. Song plays the moment 100% with no species of "look at my acting" or chewing scenery.

In line with recent actors commenting on the overkill of method acting in the press, I love that the Cannes Film Festival rewards acting that doesn't seem like acting. I still consider them my Oscars.

As my first time seeing a Hirokazu Koreeda film, I was impressed by the precision behind his stylistic choices. Using multiple viewpoints from his characters, Hirokazu Koreeda's script fairly presents the moral dilemma of selling an orphan baby without ever being preachy or didactic.

Is it better to sell an orphan to a rich family or leave him for an orphanage? Should a baby box exist? Does the box save babies or just encourages people to abandon babies?

Koreeda takes no sides on the matter. He shows you a character's point of view, then pulls you out of it by presenting the counter argument and pulls you away again with a third and the process seems infinite. The brilliance is that the story dissects the issue to the point that there is no clear cut simple answer. It becomes completely grey.

Then Koreeda moves on and deconstructs "What makes a family a family?" Is it made by blood relation, marriage or coupling? Is it just everybody involved having the intention?

What I enjoyed about Broker was how he dealt with a heavy depressing subject with soft hands and presented its debate with optimism and heart. Hirokazu Koreeda believes in people and champions for the misfit; so much so his optimism glosses over the final resolution of the story in a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of way.

In the end, the journey was well worth it and Broker gave me a clarity of mind about baby rights that I continually thought about long afterwards.

A movie about (the sense of?) family

[ahni31 · 6/10 · 20 June 2022]

Broker tracks a mother who gave up her baby but later returns to collect it, two men who are the titular 'brokers' - selling abandoned babies - and a bunch of other characters, including two cops hot on their tail.

The characters are interesting and we learn more about each of them throughout the film - an achievement given the number of them. The movie switches fairly well between a serious and funny tone, and a number of jokes drew laughter in the theatre I watched in.

A con for me (and this may just be me!) was that I felt the movie became a little cluttered towards the end - a sort of subplot (but linked to the main narrative) with a couple of gangsters and the wife of the baby's father felt confusing. The ending also felt a little abruptly saccharine - a shift in tone from the subdued realism that made up most of the film.

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

[apathoflife · 8/10 · 17 June 2022]

A journey of finding the best future for a baby. Instead of using the term of disfunctional family, I prefer to describe them as souls fated to meet and to heal their inner child's wounds.

Many said it is a slow paced film with beautiful cinematography, but for me it is nothing near slow paced.

Dir. Koreeda forced us to think non stop from the 1st scene.

All cast members acted perfectly and percisely, even the baby.

Song Kang Ho deserve his Best Actor title with no doubt.

He is the sweet bitterness of the film.

Quiet Film About Family

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 12 January 2023]

"Shoplifters," one of the best movies I've seen in recent years, led me to this film by the same director. "Broker" shares a lot in common with the other film, mostly in giving us another ragtag assortment of characters who ban together as a family in the absence of more traditional relatives. Both films are about family being defined by the people who support you in life, not necessarily those you share blood with. I liked "Broker," but not anywhere nearly as much as "Shoplifters." It's got a laid back road trip vibe, but it's also got a whole bunch of plot strands that don't completely get resolved satisfactorily. One in particular, about some gangsters after money owed them, feels especially unnecessary and even left me feeling a bit confused.

So not a home run, but there's still a lot in the movie to like and I would recommend it based on that.

Grade: B+

Best movie of my life

[maahsaakbarii · 10/10 · 17 June 2022]

It's a great movie. Truly a masterpiece. It made me feel so many different feelings. I cried laughed scared and fell in love while watching it. The acting is really on point. There's no bad acting in this movie even cameos and child actors did a great job. The story made me really think about my existence, my relationships and my parents and I'm so grateful toward hirokazu koreeda for making this great,calm,thoughtful and encouraging movie👍

Bittersweet and touching

[gortx · 2 May 2023]

Japanese master Hirokazu Koreeda's first feature made in South Korea is in unity with his themes and methods. His screenplay sets up a simple premise and allows him to explore the characters. BROKER is a bit more 'plot' focused than many of his previous features, but, the movie is more about the people than the situation. That's not to say the story is of no consequence, it most certainly is.

Song Kang-Ho (PARASITE) is Sang-hyeon, the title character. He runs a laundry with his assistant, Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won), but their side-hustle is selling abandoned babies to couples who wish to avoid the legal adoption process. The pair are also involved with a local orphanage. The sale of the newest baby they attempt to peddle becomes more complicated when the young waif of a mother, Lee Ji-eun (Moon So-young), changes her mind and returns for her son. Thinking fast, Sang-hyeon tells the mom that she can get a percentage of the sale, which entices her.

What follows, is a road movie of sorts as the trio set out to procure a deal for the unfortunate infant. A pesky kid from the orphanage stows away in the Broker's van. Meanwhile, a pair of female detectives is on the case. In keeping with Koreeda's long standing theme of nontraditional families, the Broker's quartet and the baby become a unit against all odds. The two cops, Soo-Jin (Bae Doona) and Lee (Lee Joo-young), have an interesting dynamic of their own, which evolves over the course of the investigation.

The story-line takes some unexpected twists and turns, but, Koreeda never forgets the human element. There are a pair of extraordinary scenes that take place in enclosed environments (a train and a park ride), the characters searching each other's soul (and their own) for a way forward. A lovely late night scene in a motel is heart-breaking in its simplicity and directness. The notion of personal responsibility weighs on all of the adult characters, and, it's a bittersweet revelation when it's the most seemingly heedless character who ends up bearing it most of all.

Koreeda's road-movie fairytale

[sascha_z · 6/10 · 1 August 2022]

Just as his previous films, Hiro Koreeda's "Broker" deals with existential themes like the meaning of family (or the lack of it). You may argue that the Japanese star director even doubles down on this, adding crime (selling babies) and even homicide to the mix. The fact that his recent film is set in Korea might even add a somber, heavy note - as most Korean films of the 2000s have confronted the impact of deep societal rifts with head-on cynicism (Parasite; Burning) or even brutality (Squid Game).

For all its melancholic atmosphere, though, "Broker" never loses its sense of humor and optimism: In its better parts, it even has a feel-good road-movie charm; in its weaker moments - including the somewhat saccharine ending - it feels more like a fairytale than the quietly realistic style Koreeda is famous for. Nonetheless, a few tears and moments of warmth can be beautiful at times, and the film's story is still worth dwelling more deeply on.

A priceless thought provoking humanistic story!

[rogerho-44708 · 9/10 · 17 June 2022]

Usually I don't really watch a humanistic film because I know that I wouldn't survive the hour long scene without any jaw dropping action segments. However, when it comes to humanistic drama production, my mind will remember the awesome drama, My Mister. I would not deny that IU's involvement in this movie was one of the many reasons that stirred my heart to grab a ticket after her stellar performance in My Mister. The other reason is that the casting itself is superb. I like the performance of Song Kang Ho, Gang Dong Won and Bae Doona. All of them were fantastic professionals in their other works plus Lee Jooyoung who had made remarkable impression in Itaewon Class. It is so hard for me to give it a miss.

Rather than giving a long review. I will do it in point form instead. Here it goes.

10 Things that I like 1. Movie is perfectly paced even though to some may feel it is slow. Boring? Quite a few thought provoking scenes that I don't have the time to get bored.

2. Everyone has his/her own agenda and the revelation slowly surface out as the movie continues.

3. Do not judge the book by its cover. This applies to human.

4. Deep meaning in some of the scripts which made me thinking even after the movie.

5. The transitioning from stranger to family shown perfectly in the acting which doesn't feel there is a missing scene or gap in between.

6. Some scenes are really time critical which the acting crews nailed with their acting abilities.

7. Simple humanistic story plot but with deep meaning of their actions.

8. The baby is a professional actor too.

9. The small kid adds meaningful interest to the plot especially he is definitely the most fitting to say "Thank you for being born" to So-young

10. Unlike other reviews, personally I didn't cry so badly but some scenes really struck to the heart which made me wanting to let go my tears.

Is hard to find the portion which I do not like. Knowing that this movie is a dark and slow movie, i didn't have a lot of expectations as I rarely watch such a film. I do feel this type of movie suits people who are more flexible in their taste or have a liking towards more realistic humanistic genre. I believe I am more of the flexible type. If i were to really list out 1 thing which probably can be improved...Spoiler here if you continue to read?....

I would think that the ending portion could have given more hints to the audience before the brokers were apprehended and the agreement between So-young and the detectives. My presumption is that it is done on purpose to let the audience fill in the blanks. Probably, I will get clearer understanding after 2nd or 3rd viewing.

Overall, I really like the story plot, the performance by every actors and actresses are fantastic especially Song Kang Ho, Gang Dong Won and Lee Jieun (IU). Being the center piece, IU has done a very great job in her inaugural commercial film. Last but not least, bravo to Hirokazu Kore-eda for producing such meaningful story; this is a masterpiece to me. Great job!

Pure drama, not for everybody

[soeprijo19 · 7/10 · 19 August 2022]

Broker has a stellar cast: Song Kang Ho, Bae Doona, Gang Do Won, IU, even small roles have familiar Korean star faces all over. This is a good movie, and while all the stellar casts shine bright as always, it fell flat on the script. No conflict and no tense almost 124 minutes of runtime definitely not a movie for everyone.

Good 7/10.

One of the two best Kore-eda films--the original screenplay is outstanding

[JuguAbraham · 8/10 · 14 August 2022]

The Third Murder and Broker are two of Kore-eda's films that make you admire his complex original screenplays. For the first time, the thin line between the good guys (here, the Korean cops, caring parents) and the bad guys (the brokers of all hues, the murderers, the bad son born into a good family getting close to thugs, bad wives, etc,) blur and almost disappear.

Gentle and engaging film

[ethanbresnett · 7/10 · 4 April 2023]

Broker is a very poignant and sweet and engaging film from start to finish. It takes a very gentle and subtle approach at all times that makes for a very relaxing and meditative experience, despite the fact that it is often dealing with very serious issues.

Mostly this gentleness and subtlety comes from the performances and the style. Song Kang-Ho gives a terrific performance as do the whole cast. They each have their own complexities and issues that come to light and are intriguing to explore and discover.

The direction is beautiful, capturing the characters and the scenery perfectly. Visually the film is nice and rewarding.

I think the story is where the film needed the most work. At times it felt a little fractured and didn't really come to fruition in a satisfying way.

Overall though Broker is a very strong film with lots to offer.

Profound drama about new-found family

[charmingmuianakjulis · 10/10 · 17 June 2022]

I still can't get over and forget about this film.

Broker notes how difficult to rediscocer the ability to trust, love and accept forgiveness, when our lives are filled with disappointments, anger, rejection, abandonment and being loneliness. Everyone in this movie has their own story to tell. Even the side characters got their humane feelings.

The best overall cast of any movie at Cannes this year. Kore-eda is one of the best filmmakers, and want to appreciate how amazing the hard work of the actors.

Heartwarming

[hakuthedragon · 7/10 · 21 October 2022]

The premise of the movie is very interesting and the story is heartwarming and well-paced. All the actors did a great job, and I have to hand it to Ji-eun/IU for a lovely performance as a young mother. I have only watched her acting in Hotel del Luna and was curious about her performance in a more serious film. Overall, a touching and sweet film about family that follows an interesting bunch of characters. My only gripe is that the ending wrapped up like a Korean drama where everyone sort of gets what they deserves and everything turns out relatively well for the characters we were rooting for.

We get it - hearts of gold

[feinberg · 4/10 · 30 January 2023]

I loved Shoplifters, and this movie touches on similar themes, but in a much less subtle, humorous, and challenging way. Instead, we figure out pretty quickly that all of these marginalized, damaged, and quirky characters really have hearts of gold, and there is nowhere really to go from there except forward into over-the-top, somewhat cringey sentimentality. The last half hour dragged on, and the audience wasn't provided with sufficient reason to care about these characters, who started out promising but were reduced to one dimensional caricatures of weepy kindness.

The acting was marvelous but the story and characters didn't demonstrate the exuberant creativity of Shoplifters, and I was left disappointed.

A Fine Companion Piece To Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters'

[CinemaClown · 3 February 2023]

From the writer-director of Shoplifters comes yet another delicately layered & endlessly human drama concerning a group of broken folks who come together to form an unconventional family. Brimming with warmth, told with tenderness and anchored by impressive performances, Broker navigates through love, abandonment, family, choices, ethics & adoption, and is engrossing for the most part.

Written & directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, the premise is simple, accessible & in motion within minutes into the picture but the accompanying subplots do make the whole thing seem a tad messier than it needs to be. The more time we spend with these characters, the more we can empathise with them and the powerful bond that develops between them is allowed to evolve with a certain naturalness.

There are times when some of the branching storylines feel unnecessary to the central plot and don't contribute in a manner that enriches the viewing experience. The highlights are the strong & measured acts from the entire cast, with Song Kang-ho leading from the front and Lee Ji-eun standing out in her supporting role. The chemistry between them also has a familial quality to it, and it glues the film together.

Overall, Broker is as sweet & sentimental as it is sobering & melancholic and often makes sure that its emotional beats are hitting the right notes. The ending is somewhat unsatisfactory but the journey leading up to it never allows the interest to fizzle out, thanks to excellent character moments & commitment from its cast. A more streamlined narrative would've worked wonders but this South Korean drama still packs a punch.

A decent movie, but not an attractive one.

[TaylorYee94 · 7/10 · 25 August 2022]

'Broker' just fails to win the heart of audience. In my head, it is a good movie. Interesting story with each character distinctive and fully developed. The director stays rather distant from heart-wrenching plot and being oversensitive. It is a calming ballad rather than loud, soulful jazz. It brings in different approach and perspective to social problems we can encounter in real life. However, gosh, it is boring and slow. Too many terms or holes between each event. With good-quality yarn, Kore-eda makes a baggy and holey sweater.

Profound drama about new-found family

[witra_as · 8/10 · 15 June 2022]

Profound drama with mostly likeable characters. Kore-eda picked up scattered parts in first half before put his own signature bittersweet story about humanity. Awesome cast strongly formed a new-found family that will tear us apart. The ferris wheel scene tho 😭

Not bad, but not great either

[pasaribuharisfadli · 7/10 · 17 July 2022]

No one can defy the notion that family is Kore-eda's strongest theme. Broker, which is his first entry into Korean films, is no exception. Conveying his usual melancholic narrative, the film hasn't lost all of Kore-eda charms and wit, although sometimes it can be too subdued to give a more emotional impact.

Painting A Painful yet Beautiful Gestures and Emotions into One Huge Canvas.

[akdmaeum · 10/10 · 19 June 2022]

Visually this movie is really artistic, aside from the aesthetics and beautiful cinematography, the performances of the actors come out like a combined art in the movie, it's like they're painting a painful yet beautiful gestures and emotions into one huge canvas.

Performance wise, the actors successfully conveying the messages of the story with their whole body, eyes, slight hands or shoulders movements, even the way they breathe can tell us the solid messages and emotions. Salute to all actors, no exceptions, even the child actors and the cameos, they show great acting quality, especially Song Kang Ho, Lee Ji Eun aka IU and Bae Doona.

We don't need to question any more about the acting quality Song Kang Ho has, there were one scene he walked while holding a doll after seeing his daughter, and he made me want to cry just by looking at his back. He is great and his all performances as Sanghyun, lead this movie so well.

I'm still shocked with IU, I actually didn't expect her to be this excellent for her movie debut. Her quality is multiple times better than her previous project, from facial expression, tones, gestures are all leveled up. Here she knows how to brings out enough portion of the emotions she has to show in every scene, and that looks visually poetic. There were not many scene where we can see Soyoung having a long physical contact with her own baby, Woosung, but once it happen -although it might look awkward, which is realistic, since Soyoung herself is an unprepared young mother- you can feel the hidden affections and the maternal instinct she has toward her baby, as a mother myself, i can clearly see it, maybe the other moms who watch this movie will feel the way i do.

The chemistry she has with Dong Soo is like a sweet bonus we get from the movie, proving that even without a physical contact you can still feel the butterflies by only seeing the image of Soyoung and Dongsoo in one frame. People keep mentioning the Ferris Wheel scene, yes it's so touching and heart breaking and i cried, but you'll actually see more of it throughout the movie.

Bae Doona as Soojin is not shown really often in the movie, but there were one scene where she has a conversation on the phone with someone, we don't really know who or what that other person says to her but her whole expression and tone in that scene is like telling a huge pain she has been dealing, whatever it is.

Story wise, it is kinda slowburn, up until half of the story. Surely it's not the type of movie that would make you cry a river, leave us in lots of angst nor laugh the hell out. It stays in the middle but if we see it in a positive way, actually with that we can slowly understand their wound and clearly see the emotion transitions in each character, also how they develop, personally it helps me to catch the feeling throughout the movie.

There were no long or difficult to understand narrations and dialogues, but almost every dialogues come with huge impact and weight.

Like everyone else's favorite, the "Thank you for being born" that said with IU's voice it's so precious, and i cried when the kiddo Hyejin say it to her in return.

In the end of the story, all of the characters here trying to find the best way to protect baby Woosung, it's heartbreaking and beautiful in the same time.

With this movie, Koreeda is trying to tell us not every woman who gave birth to a baby has an ability to be a mother, but every children that born deserves to receive protection and love from the adults around them. And that an action most people consider as irresponsible might be the best way to protect someone.

I watched this with my husband and our baby boy, my hubby cried a little at Soyoung and Soojin conversation inside the car. And on the way home he thanked me for giving birth and spending most of my time taking care of our son.

Too many subtitles.

[rhokita-27288 · 7/10 · 15 October 2022]

IMO this is not one of Koreeda's best films, such as Nobody Knows, Still Walking, After the Storm or Shoplifters. It was just OK. I think the main problem I had with it was that THERE WAS TOO MUCH DIALOGUE! It seemed like it was one scene of dialogue after another scene of dialogue. Usually directors set up scenes before conversations--that was not the case with this film. I know Koreeda makes a lot of talky movies--but I thought this was was really talky. It was so talky that oftentimes I didn't have enough time to read the subtitles because there were so many of them! Another thing--I didn't really see the point of having the cops in the movie. IMO they didn't really add anything to the story. Was this supposed to be a family drama or a cop story? It didn't seem like Koreeda knew what he wanted to make.

Community on the Margins

[bulgerpaul · 9/10 · 17 September 2022]

This is going to have some real "guy who has only seen two movies draws parallels between them" energy, but watching Broker in close proximity to Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is actually a killer double feature, both being mildly funny, comfort movies meditating on community, mainly through spending time with oddballs who've bonded under strange circumstances (something they both have in common with one of the few other Koreada film I've seen, Shoplifters). It takes a village in order to survive, afterall, and the means by which communities can be formed and remain functional is something capitalism seeks to uproot, making it feel as though one must live on societal margins in order to form a community capable of remaining together and thriving.

Southkorean cinema does it again

[xnicofingerx · 7/10 · 29 July 2023]

Once again, upscale cinematic art from Asia. One of the actors, Song Kang-ho, by now a well-known South Korean promise of quality meets Japanese director Koreeda, "Shoplifters" had some hype.

The magic: a rat pack of fundamentally different people, who are initially connected to each other exclusively by a fundamentally unsympathetic scheme, one that is so base, inhumane and of ice-cold calculation, grows again every logic to the viewer's heart with every minute of play. And without any kitsch, these characters, battered by the past, find their way to each other and to the questioning of right and wrong. To make the cliché-free ending complete, not a rosy one (but not one with horror either, simply one from life).

Yet another masterpiece from Hirokazu Koreeda

[joseph_lim_x_d · 9/10 · 18 June 2022]

For those who are already familiar with Hirokazu Koreeda will know what they are getting themselves into before watching this film.

If you go in to the cinemas expecting this to be fast pace action or suspense blockbuster film, than you will be disappointed. This is an art house film that is very much driven by the characters.

Each of the casts deliver outstanding performances. Song Kang-ho rightly deserve winning the Best Actor award for his starring turn in Broker at 75th Cannes Film Festival 2022. Lee Ji-eun (aka IU) is the heart and soul of this film as we watch her character change as she journey with the brokers.

Just go to the cinemas with the right expectation and this film will not disappoint while enjoy the empathetic road trip odyssey reflecting on the family we choose.

Its a pretty great stories

[ariqakbar · 7/10 · 22 August 2022]

One of the thing that i like about this kind of stories is they take their time, not rushed into the main story. Finally it deliver a really strong story line.

Some of the shot really have a great cinematography potential. I'm not sure why they didn't push this factor.

Overall its pretty solid movie. Not great, but solid.

A mixed perspective of abortion and abandonment

[wu-chih-chiang · 3/10 · 21 July 2022]

The movie utilises an abandoned baby to trigger audiences to think about the controversial topic of abortion (I.e. Leading actress said: is the sin of abortion less than the abandoned baby in the beginning?). Still, the reason for the mother to leave the baby is that she is a criminal and her baby deserves to choose a better life without her; that is different intentions and perspectives, and it's irresponsible to mix them up and expect audiences buy-in.