I’m never quite sure what I’m getting when I sit down to watch a Hirokazu Kore-eda film. Sometimes it’s an expertly restrained drama like Maborosi or Nobody Knows, other times something gentler such as Our Little Sister or After the Rain. Broker sits somewhere between the two: big, uncomfortable subject matter anchored by intimate character work.
Broker is, to my knowledge, the first South Korean film Kore-eda has directed. It follows a group of amateur child traffickers led by Sang-hyeon, played by the ever-recognisable Song Kang-ho. After taking in a baby abandoned by its mother, they attempt to find a buyer, drawing the attention of two detectives, one played by Bae Doona.
As the group travels together, their relationships deepen, and the film begins to explore the uncomfortable contrast between the illegality of their actions and the personal circumstances that have led them there. What I found most compelling is this emphasis on misfortune. Each character carries a history of abandonment, framing their actions as misguided but compassionate rather than purely transactional.
The detectives, by contrast, are often played for dry humour, their emotional detachment quietly undercutting their authority. In that sense, Broker echoes The Third Murder, prioritising inner lives over the sensationalism of the crime itself.
The film does lose a little momentum in its second half — the first hour feels more assured — and the police storyline becomes slightly muddled before resolving itself. Still, even at its weakest, Broker remains thoughtful, humane, and unmistakably Kore-eda.