Under most circumstances, abortion was illegal in South Korea until the beginning of 2021. This is the setting of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film, Broker, which begins when a young mother, So-young (Lee Ji-eun, better known as K-pop star IU), leaves her newborn baby outside a Busan church’s baby box, not knowing whether she will return for him. Business partners Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won) steal baby Woo-sung to sell to couples unable to navigate the complicated rules and restrictions of adoption. Kore-eda leaves the ethics of the pair’s actions murky, challenging his audience to evaluate their own morals. Yes, it’s child trafficking, but in their eyes, it’s saving babies who are thrown away from a life in an orphanage. The black-market transaction also attracts the attention of detectives Soo-jin (Bae Doona) and Lee (Lee Joo-young), who aim to catch the pair red-handed.
However, So-young returns the next day to find Woo-sung missing from the church. After learning that the sale involves a great deal of money, she joins Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo to ensure that her baby is given to suitable parents. The ragtag group is complete when a young boy from an orphanage with dreams of playing in the English Premier League sneaks onto Sang-hyeon’s van and becomes its final member.
It feels intentional that the four central characters lack a traditional family. Here, Kore-eda covers similar ground to his 2018 Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters with a narrative that grapples with people aware of their place in the world as capital who nevertheless try to make the best out of the limited systems they live in. For both of these films, this means finding love in community, regardless of relation. This theme becomes more apparent as the group slowly begins to bond. Kore-eda plays many scenarios for laughs, but there are moments of genuine intimacy ranging from sewing a loose button to forgiving someone for their flaws and loving them anyway.
However, as a whole, the story can occasionally feel forced. Broker sits on the edge of being overly sentimental, seeming a bit too desperate to find hope in the darkest places. But what Kore-eda does well is let his empathy guide his filmmaking. Like many of his characters, he has a remarkable ability to accept people even when they disgrace themselves and a patience for those who stumble along as they attempt to find redemption. Surprisingly, Kore-eda’s empathy is placed in the minor character of Detective Soo-jin. She is initially judgmental of the group, especially So-young for abandoning her baby, but as she continues to investigate, she realizes the humanity in each of them. Soo-jin’s prejudice gradually changes, exemplified in an homage to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and Aimee Mann’s song “Wise Up.”
Throughout Broker, Kore-eda asks tough questions about family, ethics and the freedom of choice. Why have a child if you are unable to raise them? Should you get an abortion instead? These are the impossible decisions society puts on women. A surface-level interpretation of the film may suggest an anti-choice stance, but this reading would miss the emotional meaning of the film entirely. Broker sees that no choice is completely correct and views So-young as a victim of society, without support yet subject to an endless cycle of criticism.
Many of the characters take So-young’s choice to leave Woo-sung personally. Dong-soo, who was abandoned by his own mother to live out his childhood in an orphanage, can’t hide his disgust of the young mother. Yet Kore-eda frames the narrative as one based on forgiveness and understanding. A couple of scenes on a Ferris wheel late into the film act as a culmination of this sentiment, allowing each member to speak honestly to one another with a closeness that can only be found in family.
With Shoplifters and now Broker, Kore-eda understands that there is never a right answer to impossible life decisions. We’re all trying to find secure footing as life ceaselessly moves forward. It’s the people along the way who choose to support us and appreciate who we are that allow us to keep up.
Photo courtesy of NEON
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