Broker Review
The black market sale of infants and the bleak circumstances that can be faced by abandoned children and the marginalised are doubtlessly difficult subjects to engage with and can easily be mishandled, to the extent of oversimplification or even insult. Broker proves itself to be a deft touch, in this regard, even despite its narrative shortcomings.
Written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Broker is set in South Korea and follows laundry owner, Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho who starred in the Oscar winning Parasite) and his young offsider, Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won). The pair run an illegal side business, where they sometimes steal babies who are left in a ‘baby box’ at a local church where Dong-soo works, with Dong-soo deleting the CCTV footage to cover their tracks, before selling the baby to desiring couples in order to get around restrictive and tortuous adoption laws. However, on one occasion a young mother, So-young (Lee Ji-eun), returns to claim her baby back, finding the two and insisting on accompanying them as they seek out buyers across the country. Whilst their journey reveals the very personal stories of each of them, they are covertly pursued by a pair of detectives, Soo-jin (Bae Doona) and Lee (Lee Joo-young), who are intent on catching Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo in the act.
Broker is a well acted affair, showcasing compelling performances from the three leads and earning Song Kang-ho the award of Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. Song, Gang and Lee deal with the emotional nuances of their subjects with care and finesse, each creating a real sense of authenticity in their depictions of the highs and lows the characters’ journeys. Befitting his win at Cannes, Song in particular shows great skill in presenting a layered and troubled human being as Sang-hyeon, though his two main co-stars also deserve praise in balancing the traumas and hang-ups of their characters with their lighter moments and better natures. The remainder of the cast certainly do at least a serviceable job of completing the roster of personalities in the film, though their roles perhaps prevent them from delivering more than that.
On that front, the narrative does feel ever so slightly overcrowded, with just slightly too much packed into the 129 minute runtime to do full justice to every storyline. The two police officers, in particular, don’t quite get the time to engage with the issues at play, particularly the lack of moral between them and So-young, the young mother who had abandoned her baby only to return. The emphasis on family, including found family, as contrasted against the trauma of abandonment and growing up without parents can also strike as being oversimplified or at least underexplored in the film, despite the laudable sensitivity of the production to what can be a touchy subject. It is worth noting too that some plotlines are ultimately left too thin, despite their centrality to the main story, which is a shame given that altogether the story is quite engaging for what is quite a simple premise.
All of that said, Broker succeeds where it counts and leaves audiences with a feeling of warmth as it extols the beauty and importance of love, family and dealing with the past. The utter sincerity and lightness of its presentation does more than enough to make up for its other shortcomings.
