Towards the end of last year, I saw viral pictures of renowned singer-songwriter and actress, IU (Lee Ji-eun), at the Cannes Film Festival’s screening of Broker. She looked angelic in her beautiful gown and the movie was garnering hype, so I googled what Broker was about. I came to understand that she was playing the role of a mother for the first time, and that the film was written and directed by a popular Japanese filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-eda.
UI’s performance in the K-drama, My Mister, had really impressed me, so I had it in mind to check out Broker. But I never got around to checking it out until her dating news with actor, Lee Jong-suk, broke out (I was then reminded about the movie). So here I am with the review😉.
Broker is a quiet and understated movie about two men who volunteer at a catholic church, and steal babies that are abandoned in the anonymous baby boxes of the church to sell them illegally to infertile parents. Their secret operation is interrupted when a mother who abandoned her baby changes her mind. But after thinking about what would be best for her baby, she joins the men to sell the baby and in the process, forms an unusual family with them.
This movie was not addicting by any means, but it does a good job of making me curious about the single mother that had abandoned her baby. She seemed to bear secrets and had a dubious air about her, so I wanted to find out her deal. IU was put in charge of the role and while her performance was not particularly striking (she didn’t have much to work with), she had sincerely touching emotional moments that evoked pathos. And she looked really good and was memorable with her long, slightly wavy hair and lined eyes.
Song Kang-ho from the Oscar winning Korean movie, Parasite, played the older man stealing babies. His character reminded me of the one he played in Parasite; poor, hand-crafty, desperate and tricky. He’s a talented actor, no doubt. It’s hard to imagine that he’s just playing a character and not the actual character. He’s that good.
Gang Dong-won played the younger man in the baby-brokering business and I would say he delivered my favourite performance. Even without knowing the backstory of his character being an abandoned child, I could feel the nuance in his delivery. He was tender and had a romantic and thoughtful aura to him despite his clever, piercing eyes. He actually reminded me of actor Choi Woo-sik in Parasite. They have similar auras.
Im Seung-soo plays Hae-jin, a young boy who snuck out of his nursery home (he had also been abandoned as a baby) to join the broker family. He was carefree, mischievous and super cute. I enjoyed his performance as well. Him and the very smoochy baby in the movie added gravitas to the family.
The actresses who played the detectives stalking the brokers also portrayed their characters well, especially Bae Doona who had something to work with. Her character had deep sensibilities and vulnerabilities that she passed that across in a natural and intriguing manner.
All in all, Broker tenders morally complex characters that resort to immoral actions due to their helpless and unfortunate circumstances. But most of all, it shows us that true family can be found in the most unlikely people, and that these seemingly unloved, lost and lonely people can be one another’s biggest warmth, light and hope. I especially love the scene where IU’s character closes her eyes in the dark and vulnerably thanks all the brokers and her baby for being born. It’s such an unexpected, genuinely moving scene that lacked any affectation or grandiose. I would call the simple scene the heart of the whole film.
On the other side of things, the end of the movie insinuated that the older broker man killed someone to save the baby they had all come to love from ending up in the wrong hands. But I don’t agree with this murder. I don’t think it was needed at all. The action transgresses a line that my head and mind can’t seem to accept or excuse.
Apart from that, Broker is a simple movie I would recommend to you if you’re looking for a movie that will not consume all your attention, but have you curious and even warm your heart a little.