Things I Watched: Broker – A thoughtful drama about child trafficking
I’m never sure when I sit down to watch a Kore-eda movie whether it’ll be one of his expert dramas in the vein of Maborosi and Nobody Knows , or a simpler tale such as Our Little Sister or After the Rain . Broker kind of skirts a line between these types. It’s a combination of grand subject matter but with a delicate character portrayal at its heart. It’s not my favourite Kore-eda movie, nor do I think it blends all of its themes perfectly together, but it stands out because of the way that Kore-eda so expertly lends a humanist touch to the minutiae of interpersonal relationships. Broker is, to my knowledge, the first and only South Korean movie Kore-eda has made. The story focuses on a group of amateur child traffickers led by Sang-hyeon (played by the ever-recognisable Song Kang-ho). They take ownership of a baby abandoned by his mother and seek a buyer which leads them to be chased by detectives; the main one being played by Bae Doona. Their attempts to sell the child deepen their...