‘Broker’ Review: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Latest is Also His Best
Broker is a gripping and emotionally impactful drama featuring great performances from Song Kang-ho, Lee Ji-eun and Bae Doona.
As someone who hasn’t been big on Hirokazu Kore-eda’s style and approach to filmmaking, I was surprisingly moved by his latest project, Broker, a simple yet increasingly effective and deeply emotional road trip film. It centers around Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho), who occasionally steals babies from a baby box and sells them to a family on the black market. His latest baby, Woo-sung, is troublesome, as the mother, So-young (Lee Ji-eun), comes back for him. As Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won) go on a trip to sell Woo-sung, So-young joins them, hoping she will find the perfect adoptive family.
However, two police officers (Bae Doona & Lee Joo-young) are on their tail, and the mafia is also looking for the baby, something So-young needs to tell the two protagonists. It seems like a lot, but Broker moves briskly and doesn’t feel as sluggish as Kore-eda’s previous works, such as Nobody Knows and Our Little Sister, movies I’ve tried to connect with but found myself feeling utterly empty by its end.
With Broker, Kore-eda paints a moving picture, filled with characters audiences will care about, as they are tracked down by two desperate police officers trying to get them to sell the baby so they can “arrest them on sight.” But, of course, their plan doesn’t work, allowing Kore-eda to craft some terrific comedy. It’s not downright slapstick but bumbling enough to make the officers look like complete buffoons and the protagonists like three of the most intelligent criminals. But the more the audience learns about the protagonists, the less they like them, which puts the film’s final act in a precarious position: should they root for them or the police officers?
That aspect of the movie is most well-executed and makes the viewing experience all the more encompassing. Its pace doesn’t feel slow, but only slightly thrilling to keep the viewers on their toes when the road trip starts to when it ends. Even the slight flourishes of action Kore-eda throws at the viewer are exciting enough to keep everyone on edge, knowing that the police (and mob) are out there, somewhere, looking for them, even if the main characters are always one step ahead of their pursuers.
A movie like Broker wouldn’t have worked without an excellent cast, and it almost feels like Kore-eda made a film in Korean specifically to work with actors Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona, who give incredible performances. Kang-ho is best known for his collaborations with Bong Joon-ho, but he turns one of his best-ever performances as Sang-hyeon. Admittedly, it’s not as expressive as his performance in Joon-ho’s Parasite, but far more subdued and emotionally impactful than I would’ve thought.
But the film's real star is Doona, whose detective character is more complex than initially presented. The premise sounds simple, but audiences learn more about her side of the story as the character starts getting emotionally involved in the case. It’s a lot to take in, but Doona plays her character with incredible depth, making the final scenes all the more devastating for her and the audience. Audiences don’t root for her as the movie begins, but that could change depending on when they will position themselves when they learn details about Sang-hyeon or So-young, who concealed a secret so powerful it may tarnish the group’s relationship for good.
But you’ll have to see Broker to learn what secrets the characters are hiding from themselves. It’s a surprisingly deeper and thematically richer film than expected, but Kore-eda crafts something so pure in its intentions, filled with incredible performances across the board by A-list Korean actors, that you’ll ultimately find yourself enjoying it by the end, regardless of your pre-conceived thoughts on the filmmaker. I wasn’t a fan of Kore-eda before this one, but I’ll keep his next project in mind to see in a theater.