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A breathtaking display of realism, I'm in complete awe right now, Shoplifters tells a touching story that evokes so many emotions and it does it well, it's seemingly simple at first sight but it's so nuanced to a point where you'd find yourself expecting a certain ending, preferably happy, but this film sticks to realism and it dismantles the social norms with such grace to a point where it offers a new insight to a world unknown to most, where people long for family love and they're desperate to have someone to call family, I must admit that it made me tear up at certain times on account of the raw emotions it conveys. the acting here is marvelous, it's more of a team effort as every character completes another and ultimately form an arc that tells the story in a brilliant way. Shoplifters is a rare exercise of social realism, it gets its message across so elegantly, filmmaking at its finest.

For this stunning masterpiece Shoplifters, Hirokazu Koreeda should win the Academy Award for Best Director. It is unbelievable that the rather complicated characters and their relationships are depicted in just two hours. The approach is mild, understated, low-profile, subtle and nuanced. Much room, space and thought are left to the viewers. The direction is simply super smart.

The cinematography is extraordinary, with some surprising long shots, close-ups and beautiful shots from tight angles. The editing is speechless, connecting numerous scenes just seamlessly. Not a single minute is wasted, and the film is largely intense and arresting. Together with the brilliant performances from the ensemble cast, the result is a satisfying and deeply affecting drama on lower class in Japan.

I'm putting down 8/10 for a "rating", but basically I have no idea how to put a movie like this numerically in comparison with just about any Hollywood effort. It really belongs on a different scale entirely. My wife and I are just back from seeing it at our local art-cinema theater and we liked it very much. Stylistically, for other recent movies it's close to "Roma" and also the American indie film "Leave No Trace" as bittersweet, unhurried explorations of quite real human beings working hard to survive.

"Shoplifters" follows the lives of a makeshift "family" living in the underside of an unnamed Japanese city (the particular place isn't important). The adults scrape by with low-security, low-paid jobs, the grandma has a small pension income, and the kids are vagabonds. They get by in a crowded, ramshackle tenement and the two kids are busy picking up the techniques of petty shoplifting from the adults. We slowly learn that almost none of them are actually related; they've haphazardly chosen each other to live with in a framework a little outside the margins of normal society. All of them, in some way, have left or been taken out of abusive or dangerous previous relationships. Throughout their exploits, told by a long series of short vignette scenes, is that they indeed feel close bonds but that their "family" is built, not by blood, but by the constant kindness they show towards each other. They survive on the margins, but they love and are loved.

The second and much more subliminal big message I took away from this film was its ambience: it's quiet. Scenes that would -- in a Hollywood film -- predictably lead to shouting matches or displays of anger or confrontations with authority, *never* take that cheap overdramatized route here. When confronted with tough questions, the main characters answer reflectively and with spare honesty. Even out on the streets with traffic and lots of people around, it's quiet. What a change.

Toward the end of the film, the main characters are being patiently interviewed by social services staff in a series of magnetically powerful scenes. The "family" members' answers are often startling: "Why were you teaching your son to shoplift?" "I ... didn't know anything else to teach him." or: "Didn't you take your grandma and threw her away?" "No. Someone else threw her away; we took her in." or: "The child belongs with her mother." "No. Giving birth doesn't make her a mother." From small glimpses like this, a window opens into an entire world of human nature.

Greetings again from the darkness. We typically think of family as blood relatives, those affiliated by marriage or adoption, and those funky cousins (sometimes 'removed') that, according to the family tree, are supposedly related to us. Expert Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (LIKE FATHER LIKE SON, 2013) presents a story that will have you questioning whether the strongest connection is blood, heart, or money.

We first witness 'father' Osamu Shibata (played by Lily Franky) and adolescent 'son' Shota (Jyo Kairi) in a well-coordinated shoplifting maneuver at the local grocery store. On the way home they stumble across a shivering child, maybe 4 or 5 years old, who has been seemingly abandoned by her parents. They take her home to warm her up and feed her, and it's here we discover the multi-generational family living in a tiny apartment. This family also consists of 'grandmother' Hatsue (an excellent Kirin Kiki), 'mother/wife' Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), and teenage daughter Aki (rising star Mayu Matsuoka).

When the family discovers signs of abuse on the little girl Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), they decide to keep her - less an informal adoption than an admission to the club. See, this family lives in poverty, and finds comfort in working odd jobs and shoplifting. They do bad things out of necessity, in a kind of twisted 'honor among thieves'. Each person, regardless of age is expected to contribute to the team. The eldest provides a steady income through her deceased ex-husband's pension, and by scamming mercy money from his second family. Osamu and Nobuyo have regular part time jobs, while Aki works in a sexy chat room. Shota polishes his shoplifting skills and even tiny Yuri begins to learn by watching him. Everyone contributes in what can be described as a pyramid scheme of petty cons.

As the film progresses, we get to know each of the characters and begin to care about them ... rooting for them to find success. Writer-Director Kore-eda draws us in with subtle scenes of interaction between the characters, each willing to sacrifice for the other. He raises the question on whether choosing one's family might create a stronger bond than those blood ties. What really seems to matter is where we feel we belong, and where are accepted.

The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, and it's likely due to the devastating and expert final act. In a dramatic shift in tone, true character is revealed - it's a shocking revelation on some fronts, and fully expected on others. Each family member has a backstory that slowly unfolds through the first two acts, and then abruptly slaps us upside the head as the film nears conclusion. There are many social aspects to be discussed after this one, including how the child welfare system (seemingly regardless of country) sometimes works against a child's best interest, even with the best intentions. This is one that will grab your heart and then stick with you for a while.

Hirokazu Koreeda made one of my favorite Japanese films..."Like Father Like Son". The focus on the film was what actually constitutes a family....and like this film, "Shoplifters" challenges the traditional Japanese notion of what makes a family and the importance of genetics.

This movie is NOT pleasant...and has many harsh moments. So, please consider this when you decide whether or not to see the movie. It's NOT an easy film to watch and if you are depressed already consider seeing a comedy instead.

The story is about a group of people who are a pseudo-family. They are not related but live as a family...with a grandmother, parents, sister and children...or at least folks who act like these roles. Why are they living as a family? Well, for mutual profit...and the children help pay the bills by spending their days stealing...much like the children who worked for Fagan in "Oliver Twist". Where does all this and the unpleasantness go? See the film.

The message of this film is unusual...that criminals like you see in the story MIGHT be better at parenting than the biological parents. It also exposes a truth you don't easily see when you are in Japan...that there ARE folks who fall through the cracks, so to speak, and are not productive citizens. I just returned from three weeks in Japan and evidence of the homeless and criminality of any kind is something you will have to struggle to find. It creates a portrait that challenges the cultural norms...something which some folks might not appreciate. Overall, a well made but very unpleasant film that deals with topics such as child abuse and neglect...not exactly fun subjects but ones which should not be ignored.

A small family of small-scale thieves finds a lost girl on the outskirts of a cold street and decides to give her shelter.

Enter with this film waiting for a kind of family history with light teachings, however, I end up being a very special work full of sweet moments and at the same time provocative, with ideas and messages that challenge us about our true definition of family and trust. With a sad and melancholic narrative that makes us feel small moments of beauty and union, but little by little begins to reveal layer by layer on a more bittersweet and human truth.

Filmed in an excellent way with a cinematography designed to stay around the eyes of youngsters, with a soft and melancholic soundtrack that perfectly complements the scenes. The performances are fantastic from the entire cast, especially the children, who give a realistic and humane representation when it comes to their performances. The script is fantastic and human, teaching them a hard reality and difficult to grasp many times by our intangible minds, people who try to survive day by day through bad actions, but still try to keep their intentions pure and good.

A film quite unique, original and emotional, full of hard and sad moments that move us completely but eventually end up revealing a new truth different from what we believed, highly recommended without a doubt.

This film provides a glimpse at a side of Japan we don't usually see on film. Yes, there is (petty) crime in Japan; yes, there are poor people in Japan; and yes, there is a welfare system in Japan. The impression of all is pristine and proper in Japan is dispelled, and we see a more realistic, human side of the culture. I'm not sure if the hype is what spoiled it for me, but I will say there are some very good performances here, but the story is nothing exceptional except for the fact that it's taking place in Japan.

Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Third Murder (2017) left me cold and entertaining the notion that Kore-eda has lost his mojo. O ye of little faith, please forgive me... Shoplifters, fresh from being minted with the highest honour, the Palme d'Or, at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is Kore-eda back to being his emotionally devastating best. This ranks in the top tier of his outstanding output. If ever there is a film that can declare that sometimes, just sometimes, water can be thicker than blood, this is it.

Somewhere in Tokyo, Osamu Shibata (Lily Franky), his 'wife' Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) and 'daughter' Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) live in poverty. While Osamu receives occasional employment and Nobuyo has a low-paying job, the family relies in large part on 'grandmother' Hatsue's pension. As he is shoplifting for groceries with his 'son', Shota (Kairi Jo), they discover Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), a neglected girl. Osamu takes her home, where the family observes evidence of abuse. Despite their strained finances, they informally adopt her.

Once in a long while, a film can come along, sneaks up on you and sends your heart into a flutter of tiny explosions. Coming out of the screening with six other friends, we had to dissect what we had just experienced. As it turned out, it wasn't much of a deconstruction, but more of a discussion of the ideas of the family unit that Kore-eda paints with such delicate and painterly brushstrokes. That's when you realise the immense power of cinema and what it can do. This is a gem.

Kore-eda dives into his favourite theme of the family unit and observes what will happen to the bedrock of familial relationships if it goes through a seismic shift. It is a theme he has dealt with in outstanding films like Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008), I Wish (2011), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015) and After the Storm (2016). After so many excellent films on the same theme, you would think what else can he still distill. Shoplifters may be Kore-eda most complex, but yet his most accessible film to date.

The ideas explored in Shoplifters are multi-faceted and piercingly intelligent, intermeshed into a tapestry that will fall apart if even one scene is taken out. The script is subtle and draws empathy readily. So many times the dialogue feels innocuous, only for the poignancy to hit you in the gut some time later. It doesn't judge, never points a finger at any party, nothing here errs on the side of twee. The tone is deftly maintained from the first frame to the devastating last.

As usual, the heavy-lifting is done by the youngest actors, performances so naturalistic that they feel authentic. The ensemble is superbly cast and each of them shines in their own memorable way. They may be thieves, but there is honour and righteousness in them. They do not represent the lowest strata of the Japanese society and don't believe in handouts. With a warped sense of justice, they are willing to break the rules to survive. Above all else, their love and trust for each other is the glue that binds them.

Kore-eda never cheapens the emotional ride and doles out expositions like sermons. Details of characters are gradually accumulated in a Zen manner till it hits a gut-wrenching last act.

Like a lot of his heart-wrenching films, Shoplifters feels like a 3-hour magnum opus and I was again surprised it is only a 2-hour film because Kore-eda packs so much in the story. You will no doubt feel like you had lived a lifetime with the characters. Shoplifters is essential viewing and provides many involving examinations of what constitutes a true family. I love what the matriarch of the family said in a contemplative scene at the beach and I will paraphrase - "Sometimes it is better to be with the family you choose rather than the family you are born in". Some food for thought there.

In Tokyo, a makeshift, impoverished family lives together in the home of one of its members, a pensioner. Three of the adults have low-paying jobs; one of them plus a boy of about ten partake in shoplifting to help meet family expenses. One night, the family takes in a homeless girl of about six, not yet knowing that she is from an abusive home.

Director/writer Hirokazu Kore-eda made a similar film in 2004: "Nobody Knows". Like "Shoplifters", "Nobody Knows" also delved courageously into the subject of children living poverty. While "Shoplifters" is one of 2018's most acclaimed films, I'm sadly an outlier on this one as I had mixed feelings about it though I did have a high opinion of "Nobody Knows".

There are many curiosities regarding the characters in their difficult circumstances: while the adults are good for taking in children from difficult homes, there is a strong question of morality in teaching them to steal. In normal economic circumstances, this is clearly wrong but is this still the case where economic survival is concerned? Even some shopkeepers seem to accept shoplifting as a way of life for some. More could have been explored here but this area, like others, seems to be at loose ends by the film's conclusion.

Kore-eda's directing style itself is ordinary even though the subject matter is not. The directing style could have been more impactful, perhaps like in the recent "Roma" where the ordinary was made fascinating. While the story and its characters are interesting enough, more is needed to justify the film's two-hour length - perhaps more characterization. "Shoplifters" also lacks a moral centre which is needed in a story that has so much moral ambiguity. Possibly, the moral centre is the young girl Yuri (a very affecting Yasu Hojo) if only for her total innocence in a very harsh world. - dbamateurcritic

'Shoplifters' depicts a collective of social outcasts living in cramped quarters on the fringes of Tokyo, who survive by engaging in casual labor, petty crime and sex work. One cold night they take in the abused child of a neighboring couple, and subsequently adopt her into their merry band.

After this addition, the gang starts to consider itself a real family. Held together by an elderly matriarch, they live their outsider lifestyle in unrealistic harmony without much character development to compensate for the pedestrian narrative flow. The clan survives a major upset, but when a shoplifting caper goes wrong, the house of cards comes tumbling down. Secrets from previous lives are revealed, and the group's connecting threads become fragile as loyalties are stretched by altered circumstances.

'Shoplifters' has won some prestigious awards and got nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, but it doesn't live up to its big reputation. Although it has the look of social realism, the movie is actually far closer to a fairy tale. At the end of the day it's fairly obvious why the Academy voters preferred 'Roma'.

Watched in official En Competition at the Festival De Cannes 2018 on the 14th of May. My favourite film of the festival of the titles in competition films screened, all round excellent performances with deft direction, superbly written this film benefits from being written by a humanist director following in the steps of previous masters like De Sica and Bresson. I really cannot recommend this film highly enough, social realism that shakes you to your heart breaks, an instant modern classic. Ten out of ten.

Sakura Andô is staggeringly beautiful, which would be distracting if she weren't such a great actress. She definitely stood out and that's tough for a movie with such great performances. I thoroughly enjoyed this and it was full of surprises, which I thought would be tough to do outside total twists or shock scares. Classifying this as "crime, drama" is inaccurate, but I get it. It's a drama, but it's so uplifting both the drama and the crimes are outshone by heart in this movie, and I say "heart" as a total misanthrope. This movie really touches you and shows you just how important human connection is to us, and not in a smarmy way, but rather in a way that highlights how that need for connection can be so easily assuaged and turn into genuine familial love.

Excellently scripted and full of impressive subtleties, Shoplifters is a harrowing look at a working-class family in Tokyo, in the business of trying to simply make ends meet day by day. At first glance this may seem like just a story of this family resorting to petty crime, but as the plot gradually unfolds the reasons for the behaviour and decisions of each character is revealed, and al the dots begin to connect amidst this struggle.

Certainly seeing some of the characters getting involved in decidedly immoral behaviour- for example, the shoplifting carried out by the young boy and his father (as the title indications) and one young lady making a living off involvement in the porn industry, can be uncomfortable to see and it does present the characters in this film as morally dubious. But the whole situation that these people are in, and partially choose to create themselves, is eventually presented to the audience with unassuming subtlety, which is beautiful to watch. The overall tone of this film is fairly grim, and there is definitely raw emotional power to many scenes, but the acting and the script never at any point becomes overly sentimental or tragic. The scenarios and emotions that each character faces is really presented as it is, but of course with much delicacy.

This film may be relatively slow-paced and not visually stunning, but is breathtaking nonetheless. It's no wonder why it managed to win the Palme D'or! It's definitely going to end up as one of the best films of the year and will probably be recognised as a classic long in the future. Regardless of which culture you're from, I highly recommend checking this film out. It should deeply resonate with and impress any film lover.

Academy Award's official entry from Japan Shoplifters already earned so many awards and could even got every awards if there was no 'Roma'. Shoplifters questions us and left us to find the answer. The question could be seen in the trailer too. It was "Does giving birth automatically makes you a mother?" Though shoplifters is not made on this very topic. It's more than this.

They are family with husband, wife, and grandma and with two kids. They are poor. The man named Osamu (Lily Franky) shoplift everyday with his kid named Shota (Jyo Kairi). They return home and feel their stomach with the foods along with the other members of the family. One day returning home Osamu and Shota found a little girl (Miyu Sasaki) was outside of his home who had no one in their family then. They took her into their little house full with humanity and everybody welcome her. On the next day they went to return her but ended up hearing their parents were fighting over her existence and that's why they decided to took her into their house.

All of them in this family earn legally or illegally. They are not all innocent but they do have innocence. This film is adorable with it's realistic family goals. No matter what this family is actually happy over anything they has. But will not they try to do something which is acceptable? They are helpless too. They are free, they enjoy their time. The little girl who used to get beaten by her parents made a great relationship with this family too.

First of all there is nothing to spoil this film. The trailer showed almost all of this movie. This film is made on the views over a poor japaneese family. Hirokazu wanted us to feel for them. And it worked amazingly by his artistically work. Shoplifters never gives you any hard moments and this film has no center conflict. It's like a flowing river that has some stones in the middle. Shoplifters is an adorable journey throughout an road of humanity.

Amazing screenplay form Hirokazu and masterclass acting from all the cast gave me goosebumps in moments. There are moments that can make you cry and laugh at the same time. Shoplifters will be always live with my heart. And I liked it by watching 8.1 on imdb over 17k votes. It is really good to see normal people started liking this kind of arts too.

Story unravels beautifully and keeps you wanting for more. Tries to convey that Unconventional approach to life is more joyful.

The storytelling is very powerful. It slowly puts you in a situation that you are comfortable with, and step by step reveals a hidden layer. It simply challenges what the society defines as bond, connection, family, etc, and how laws conform to that. One of the best movies I've watched in the recent years.

This is an intelligent film with a soul and with universally excellent performances from its cast. Makes you think about the concept of a "family" in its widest sense and how human warmth and kindness is the most important thing we can achieve.

After filming several high-profile, slow-paced family dramas, the director Hirokazu Koreeda finally broke through the comfort zone he set up for himself in recent years. Through more skillful techniques and a more sagacious perspective, the tenacity and courage in "Nobody Knows" finally yielded an unhappy but very profound ending in the film. Even though the reconciliation between the individual and the world is no longer given hope, Hirokazu Koreeda's past unsolved thoughts resonate in a virtual space.. Therefore, it is not a bragging to call this film his masterpiece.

I've had such a great run with well-received foreign language films lately that I suppose I was bound to come across a dud eventually. I wanted to like 'Shoplifters' but it just didn't work for me. Firstly, it's an extremely slow film. Now I have no problem with slow films simply for being the reason that they're slow ('Amour' is one of my favourite films of all time) but to be slow you have to have a couple of things. You have to have power and you have to have purpose. You need scenes that tell the audience a lot more is going on than meets the eye and you have to be subliminally telling the audience that their patience will be worth the wait. 'Shoplifters' had neither of those.

Only the film industry could ask you to side with a family of shoplifters. It actually comes up in the film later on in terms of right and wrong with quotes such as "Whatever's in a store doesn't belong to anybody yet" and "As long as the store doesn't go bankrupt it's okay". Obviously films have the right to have their characters do anything, but in this case I felt like I was being asked to side with them.

By the time the film started to develop a little and reveal itself I simply no longer cared. A lot of films set out to win awards, but some are better at hiding that fact than others. 'Shoplifters' felt to me like a film trying very hard to check all the boxes in order to win awards. There are some tremendous foreign language films out there. 'Shoplifters' isn't one of them.