broker

Broker

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
South Korea | 2022 | Narrative
129 minutes | Korean

In the latest film from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (“Shoplifters”), Sang-hyun runs a laundry shop but is saddled with gambling debt. One night in the pouring rain, he and his pal Dong-soo secretly carry off an infant who was left outside near a baby-box facility where young mothers who cannot take care of their infants may leave them anonymously for adoption. They have hopes of selling the infant on the black market for adoptions. When the baby’s mother has second thoughts and unexpectedly returns for her son, she realizes that her baby has been taken and is about to call the police when the two men confess. Their claim that they stole the baby altruistically to find him a good home seems outrageous, but she joins them anyway on a bumpy quest to find worthy parents for the baby. Meanwhile, two female police detectives are secretly witnessing all of this as it unfolds and silently tailing them. Brought together by fate and an innocent child, they share an unexpectedly sweet and heartwarming journey.