The Wheel of Destiny has spun again, and this time it has selected Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker. I had been waiting for much of 2022 for this film and while it wasn’t exactly what I expected, it was something I and the cinematic year needed. This is a beautiful film that earns its stripes in the gray areas by examining the motives and nature of flawed individuals and the redemptive healing power of a shared purpose. One of 2022’s best and most unheralded efforts.
A pair of black-market adoption merchants sell off babies who are anonymously abandoned but when one of the mothers returns to retrieve her baby, the pair must persuade her that giving the child to a caring family is the right choice…for the right price of course. She insists on being part of the discovery process and the four of them set out on a journey that teaches them about the real value of family. Meanwhile, a couple of ambitious cops are trying to catch them in the act.
It is fair to say there are a lot of moving parts in this film but they are all moving rather slowly, so it’s not like you are going to get left in the dust. Kore-eda understands pacing very well and even with two linear narratives gradually working their way toward an impending collision, it’s an increasingly rare instance of a film that didn’t feel either bloated or rushed. He understands where the actual value in his story is because he wrote the screenplay as well, and the result is a remarkably well-balanced portrayal.
I can’t quite describe how nice it was to see a story where each of the characters gets a moment of backstory that actually matters to the future of the story that’s being told. I just watched a new movie that featured several flashbacks but those were mostly redundant just to make the audience feel sympathy that they should have already been feeling. So, the ability to weave meaningful character history into a story that’s already on the road, literally and figuratively, speaks volumes about Kore-eda’s craftsmanship as a filmmaker and a storyteller.
These characters are openly flawed and imperfect, but that doesn’t mean they have no value or are irredeemable people. Right and wrong aren’t always as black-and-white as we’d like to believe and that’s basically the point the film is trying to make. The result is a very heartfelt film and of the best ensemble performances of the year in 2022. In fact, it was leading that category but has serious competition from Women Talking.
Anyway, Song Kang-ho has it! Whatever “it” is. I think it’s because he wears his emotions with incredible ease and wields such a magnificent sense of humor without having to tell jokes. There is a reason he has been in two of the Best International Features of the past few years and I hope to see more from him. I don’t watch a ton of Korean cinema and I should probably change that, but I did recognize Bae Doona from a few things and she is sort of the antithesis of Kang-ho’s character. She plays the detective who is trying to catch him and is very rigid and professional by comparison, but it’s her struggling to keep her compassion contained where her performance really thrives.
Ji-eun Lee gave a breakout performance as So-young, the conflicted mother who tags along on the mission to adopt her own baby for profit. The most beautiful thing about her character is her resolve even though she is constantly targeted and reminded that she decided to surrender her child. That decision is central to the character dynamics and watching her grapple with the ramifications of her choice resonate loudest. It had to be the hardest character to play for that reason but she breathed life and a resilient attitude into a nearly impossible situation.
Gang Dong-won was excellent as well, playing an orphan turned adoption broker gives him a very clear and specific purpose. It also makes him very rigid in his beliefs for much of the film and his exposure to So-young begins to erode some of his long-held notions. The last of the big five is Lee Joo-young who plays Detective Lee, the partner to Bae Doona’s Soo-jin. It’s not exactly a buddy cop situation, but they have their own story to fulfill together and Joo-young helps refine the most important character notes of Soo-Jin.
I really wanted to listen to the soundtrack again because Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography is so good and it’s always a nice pairing to understand the tone and themes being communicated without the actors necessarily performing words that were written on the page. Oh well, guess I’ll wait until I get to rewatch it.
Recommendation: If you liked nuanced emotion in your storytelling, then this is a fantastic example of appreciating the journey more than the destination.
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