Shoplifters review: 'A film of rare depth and quality'

5 stars

Shoplifters

Paul Whitington

A surprise win of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters is a film of rare depth and quality, which evokes everything from Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story to Oliver Twist.

When we first meet husband and wife Osamu and Noboyu (Lily Franky, Sakura Ando), their boy, a half-sister and the ‘granny’ (the late, great Kirin Kiki) they live with, we assume they’re all related.

But all is not as it seems, and Osamu and Noboyu are career criminals who teach children how to steal. Cleverly, and with great patience, Kore-eda explores the meaning of family, and suggests that real parenthood is not given, but earned.

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