'Broker': Another Movie by Koreeda That Highlights Something Between Boon and Bane

From left, Im Seung-soo, Gang Dong-won, Lee Ji-eun, and Song Kang-ho in Broker (2022) (Photo: IMDb)

"Thank you for being born" is one of the highlight lines from Broker, a 2022 movie by Hirokazu Koreeda, inclining that every human is precious. Broker is Koreeda's first movie involving entirely Korean elements, from the language, casts, and places. He previously worked on the 2018 Palme d'Or of Cannes Film Festival-winning movie, Shoplifters (2018), which share the several same themes with Broker, including social outcasts, criminal acts, and an unusually formed family. In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Koreeda said he developed Broker and Shoplifters plots simultaneously and viewed the two movies as siblings. They are indeed siblings with different personalities: Shoplifters conveys its storyline heavily and darkly, while Broker presents more light and funny scenes.

Hae-jin, Sang-hyun, Dong-soo, So-young, and Woo-sung in the being-washed car (Photo: Twitter @denielemein)

The story begins on a rainy night when So-young leaves her baby boy, Woo-sung, in front of a church in Busan. Dong-soo, a church worker, and his partner Sang-hyun, a launderette owner, take the baby and remove the footage. They plan to sell Woo-sung to couples desperate for a child through illegal child trafficking. Meanwhile, So-young changes her mind and heads back to the church to pick up Woo-sung, but the baby is not there. To evade police involvement, Dong-soo approaches So-young outside the church and takes her to Sang-hyun's laundrette house. After some argument, So-young agrees to find adoptive parents for Woo-sung, and they set off on their trip. They run into one family after another, but none fit So-young's criteria. The trip adds another member, a boy named Hae-jin, after they visit the orphanage where Dong-soo grew up. A subplot is also in play, following two detectives, Soo-jin and Detective Lee, who stake out Sang-hyun and Dong-soo's illegal business that automatically involves So-young, Woo-sung, and Hae-jin.

Criminals and situational family: social outcasts and humanism

So-young, Sang-hyun, Dong-soo, and Hae-jin meet with prospective parents for Woo-sung (Photos: IMDb)

The 'broker' group members come from a variety of backgrounds. So-young is a prostitute and has a "mother" who has taken care of her since she ran away from her home. One of her clients was a married man who tended to force something or two on her and died at her hands. This man is Woo-sung's biological father. Sang-hyun separates from his daughter and wife, who no longer need to see him. Dong-soo grew up in an orphanage after his mother left him with a letter containing the same promise as So-young wrote to Woo-sung: "I will come back for you." However, Dong-soo's mother never came back for him as So-young did for Woo-sung. Just like Dong-soo, Hae-jin has never seen his parents' faces. One thing they have in common is: they are outcasts.

So-young got involved in a prostitution ring, committed murder, and abandoned her child. Sang-hyun and Dong-soo are black-market players. These place them as criminals. However, their acts hold humanism flakes that cannot be overlooked. It is not shown in the movie whether So-young ever held her child's father accountable, but she clearly wanted Woo-sung to be with her. She refused to give birth to him when her "mother" told her to. She courageously took care of him even though she did not know what kind of future awaited her. The urge to leave him was only there after he killed his father in a hotel. Dong-soo is the one who makes this clear and convinces her that she deserves forgiveness from Woo-sung someday.

"You abandon Woo-sung because you do not want him to be the murderer's child."

The family is having fun at Wolmido The detectives spy on the family (Photos: IMDb)

Sang-hyun and Dong-soo know when it is time to put humanity above money. They do not mind when So-young decides not to let Woo-sung go to the first customer because they judge Woo-sung's facial appearance. They refuse to hand over Woo-sung to the second customer --the actor the detectives prepare to frame them-- because they suppose they are resellers who will sell Woo-sung back abroad. They also support So-young not giving Woo-sung to the third customer because they do not allow Woo-sung to meet his biological mother again. Moreover, Sang-hyun sacrifices himself to defeat the gangster ordered by Woo-sung's father's widow to take over Woo-sung.

Dong-soo explicitly --through words-- tries to formalize the family's construction: "We could just raise him (Woo-sung) ourselves. The five of us. I will be Woo-sung's father." Hae-jin is the icebreaker and initiator of the unique warm that encourages them to start sharing anything and everything. The scene in the car being washed marks his role, in which Sang-hyun and So-young concede their real names. Each of them takes on the part of protecting the other in their way. Parenthetically, the detectives often represent the audience's feelings through their point of view. One minute, they resentfully witness how ambitious the gang is in selling Woo-sung for money, but the next minute they question their credibility:

"I guess I was the one who wanted to sell him the most. "We are more like brokers."

Broker movie poster (Photo: IMDb)

Koreeda once again manages to wrap up the criminal and outcast themes in an unconventional family, which this time is set in a road trip concept. This slow-burn movie gets on the audience with complex emotional changes that open up society's perspective on whether a person can be wholly evil or good. For people with abandoned experiences like Woo-sung --who, when they are old enough to understand, like Dong-soo, tend to wonder, "Was I supposed to be born? Did I belong in the world?"-- Broker is a solace emphasizing that there is no need to do it all by themselves; they are not alone and are as precious as the people who grow up in their biological families.

With his first Korean flick, Koreeda works with several big actors, including Song Kang-ho (Sang-hyun), Lee Ji-eun aka IU (So-young), Gang Dong-won (Dong-soo), Bae Doona (Detective Soo-jin), and Lee Ju-young (Detective Lee). He also explores local landscapes in Busan, Yeongdeok, Uljin, and Wolmido through his characteristical lens and touch. His work returns to compete at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Ecumenical Jury Award and being shortlisted for the Palme d'Or nomination. After its release in theaters in June 2022, unfortunately, this movie is unavailable on Indonesian streaming platforms, like other Koreeda movies.