When people are struggling to pick a movie, they often default to the algorithms as calculated by Netflix or ChatGPT. The wiser cineastes focus on a director, and if you were looking for a great Korean movie, you'd be well served by defaulting to the ouevre of Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho or, for the artier among you, Kim Ki-duk. But a better method yet is to zero in on an actor -- specifically, Song Kang-ho who must have one of the most consistently rewarding filmographies in cinematic history. That he's paired up with Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters) for Broker may come as a surprise; that he's delivering a beautifully nuanced and heartbreaking performance in this one too is not.
For Song, Koreeda has crafted an intricate tale about human trafficking, chosen families, self-sacrifice and forgiveness. Song plays an estranged dad involved in an adoption scam operation with a former orphan (Gang Dong-won). Their shady business gets complicated when the mother (IU) of an infant they've stolen from a church's baby drop wants a cut of any potential profits. In hot pursuit of the criminals are a pair of cops (Bae Doona and Lee Joo-young) who find themselves caught offguard by the poignancy of their trio under surveillance. It may all tie up a little too neatly at the end but Broker is excellent for nearly it's entire two hours. I laughed, I cried, I'd recommend.
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