Film Review: BROKER (2022): Hirokazu Koreeda’s Moving Film Skillfully Shows Audiences the Complexities of its Intriguing Premise

Broker Review

Broker (2022) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda and starring Song Kang-ho, Dong-won Gang, Bae Doona, Ji-eun Lee, Lee Joo-young, Im Seung-soo, Park Hae-joon, Ryu Kyung-Soo, Dong-hwi Lee, Lee Moo-saeng, Ji-yong Park, Sae-byeok Song and Kim Sun-young.

Broker, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, asks a lot of hard questions and occasionally sugarcoats a very complex premise with sweet sentimentality. However, the movie is still one of the most interesting pictures of the year even if the ending takes a few unusual turns that may feel true to life but weren’t places the audience would probably want the film to go. Nevertheless, the performances and thought-provoking plot are the picture’s saving grace and make the film a definite success.

This film’s premise revolves around a baby which is left in a church’s  “baby box” by a young mother named So-young (Ji-eun Lee). A worker at the church named Dong-soo (the solid Dong-won Gang) and a laundry owner, Sang-hyeon (the great Song Kang-ho) specialize in placing babies with families illegally for a price as Dong-soo secretly erases the footage that shows who left the baby there. So-young has a change of heart and comes back to claim her baby but discovers what the two men are doing and joins them in a quest to find her young baby boy, Woo-sung (Ji-yong Park) a new family.

Koreeda’s film is filled with warmth, humanity and humor. As the plot progresses, however, two police detectives, Soo-jin (Bae Doona) and Lee (Lee Joo-young) are in pursuit of our characters. These scenes with the detectives are tense and dramatic and could have been handled in a straightforward manner but Koreeda gives all the characters in the movie some sort of genuine feelings that help viewers understand the complexity of the predicament So-young finds herself in. Meanwhile, Dong-soo and Sang-hyeon are not the worst people in the world. They’re trying to make a living and also give these babies hope which could in turn lead the kids to have better lives.

The characters of Dong-soo and Sang-hyeon may be referred to in the film as “brokers” but they are heroic in some respects for their attempts to help So-young. Dong-soo, Sang-hyeon and So-young “pre-screen” potential buyers of Woo-sung, and several of them unfairly complain about the baby’s eyebrows. When the trio discover a couple with the potential to adopt the baby, it seems the man complains he has a low sperm count. Dong-soo and Sang-hyeon get into specifics and learn the couple isn’t legit, however. Little do they know, this couple has been sent by the cops. When the police cut a deal with So-young, the plot thickens as So-young’s loyalty is tested to the police, her child and her newfound friends.

A hysterical scene comes when an officer pulls over our lovable group (complete with an escapee from the local nursery–a young boy named Hae-jin, played quite well by Im Seung-soo) since their vehicle has an open back door. Song Kang-ho’s Sang-hyeon works as a laundry owner and is able to talk kindly to the officer who asks specific questions about his own stained shirt. It’s a light moment in a movie that understands it features a heavy premise and thus provides the comic relief necessary to maintain the viewer’s interest throughout.

Ji-eun Lee is terrific as So-young. She learns the true nature of the people seemingly looking to profit off of her baby with surprising results. They don’t just want to profit (though the price goes up from $10 million (won) to $40 million (won) as the plot goes on). They also want what’s best for the baby. However, the baby’s existence in the world revolves around a secret the film has in store for the audience which is heart-wrenching in its excesses. Lee keeps her character grounded in reality but her character’s interest in her child is evident throughout. She learns to thrive in her new family unit with the guys she meets but reality will ultimately prove there are no easy answers to the complicated questions posed in this tale.

The heart of the movie lies in the performance by the great Song Kang-ho who plays the most grounded character here. Sang-hyeon is both moving and realistic. Kang-ho’s role creates a character with tremendous understanding of the situation he is immersed in. He is the voice of reason even though the reasons he has for doing what he does may seem a bit unethical. But, what is truly ethical? How can a young unwanted baby’s life survive the wrath of the storm and make a difference if it is not nurtured correctly? Broker, thankfully, doesn’t offer any overly simplistic approaches here in filmmaker Koreeda’s capable hands.

Don’t underestimate the importance of Doona and Joo-young as their performances also help the movie’s themes come into full view. These two detectives wonder how they got involved in the case and why welfare didn’t get the situation in check before their involvement but they must do their jobs. Right? You’ll be surprised how these two characters develop throughout.

Broker is a strongly rendered tale of the importance of family whether that family is actually your own or not. The people we meet along the way in life can sometimes guide us and become more crucial to our lives in certain moments than our actual family is. By the time, this film ends, you’ll be fully invested in the story line. While some viewers may wish the movie had a typical Hollywood ending, the conclusion the film presents is possibly the only honest way the material could have been presented to the audience. Broker is a very emotionally moving film.

Rating: 8/10

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