A Major Disappointment: Rethinking “Broker”
Expectations were naturally high for “Broker,” helmed by the acclaimed Hirokazu Kore-eda and boasting a phenomenal cast that includes Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Bae Doona, and Lee Ji-eun (IU). The film’s nomination for the Palme d’Or at the 75th Cannes Film Festival and Song Kang-ho’s historic win as the first Korean actor to receive the Best Actor award at Cannes further amplified the anticipation.
Even with the bare minimum execution, “Broker” seemed destined to be at least a respectable cinematic experience. However, this collaboration, bringing together top Japanese and Korean talent, ultimately descends into a profound letdown.
The Hollow Premise of “Broker”
The term “broker” conventionally refers to an intermediary who facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers, earning a commission in the process. In the context of this film, however, the transaction chillingly involves children.
A Confusing Narrative Unfolds
Initial Bewilderment
Those unfamiliar with the film’s synopsis are likely to find the opening scenes of “Broker” perplexing. A baby, swathed in blankets, is repeatedly handed off between different individuals. First, a woman in a raincoat leaves the infant on the ground near a “baby box.”
The baby box, essentially a “baby hatch,” is a facility often situated outside churches in South Korea, designed to allow parents who are unable to care for their children to legally abandon them. The church then assumes responsibility for the babies, placing them in welfare institutions.
The viewer is left questioning why the woman in the raincoat wouldn’t place the baby inside the safer, warmer box instead of leaving the child exposed on the ground.
After a period of time, another woman shows up, picks up the baby, and finally places it inside the designated box.
Ultimately, two men open the box, retrieve the baby, and take it to their home.
While the dim lighting initially obscures identities and relationships, it becomes apparent that the newborn is being treated like an object, passed around with apparent disregard for its wellbeing.
Distorting Expectations
However, Kore-eda, renowned for his ability to craft contemporary fairy tales, soon pivots the narrative, revealing that the child is not being abandoned but rather “protected”.
The protectors include:
- So-young (Lee Ji-eun), the baby’s mother and a sex worker.
- Detective Soo-jin (Bae Doona), who has been investigating cases of child trafficking.
- Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won), the “brokers” themselves.
Under ordinary circumstances, these three groups would be diametrically opposed or even outright enemies. However, Kore-eda controversially transforms these adversaries into co-guardians of the baby, a concept lauded and criticised for its unconventional creative intention.
Kore-eda’s Fascination with Unconventional Families
Looking back, Kore-eda’s filmography reveals an evolution toward the fantastical within the realm of family dynamics:
- In his 1995 debut, “Maborosi,” a single mother remarries and integrates into a new family structure.
- “Nobody Knows” (2004) portrays four half-siblings living on their own after their mother abandons them.
- “Like Father, Like Son” (2013) challenges the definition of family when two families discover their children were switched at birth, exploring the relative importance of blood versus emotional connection.
- And in “Shoplifters” (2018), five unrelated individuals form a loving surrogate family.
With “Broker,” Kore-eda pushes further, uniting the birth mother, shady brokers, law enforcement, and prospective adoptive parents, cementing his vision of Japanese fairytale inspired storytelling.
Unfolding Events
The Illusion of Kore-eda’s Magic
After Sang-hyun and Dong-soo retrieve the baby, they discover a note in the child’s cup, revealing the child’s name, Woo-sung, and the message: “I’ll come back for you.”
Based on their presumptions with a single sentence, Sang-hyun and Dong-soo assume that the mother won’t return. Consequently, they use Sang-hyun’s laundromat as a front to facilitate the sale of the infant.
Unbeknownst to the men, Detective Soo-jin and her team surveil their every move, set to intervene at the illicit transaction unfolds.
However, So-young returns to the church the next day searching for her baby turning the narrative on its head. After realising what had happened and is then intercepted by Dong-soo and revealed the truth, she is about to call the police.
Arguing that placement in an orphanage would subject the baby to an upbringing without parents and the potential for foreign adoption or perpetual marginalization. The Broker defends the ethics of their business, while in reality is just human trafficking
While repulsed, So-young considers all options and joins them in hopes.
Thereafter unfolds a road movie, where the leads begin their adventure together in search of families, not as a criminal family, but with the premise of family values in South Korea.
A young boy named Hae-jin, secretly hides in their car joining.
Three adults and two kid are another family. The search for the buyers is frustrating as the officers continues to tail.
A “saintly couple” connects with baby , but all gets imprisoned for child trafficking, latterly for a murder of the baby’s father. Soo-jin husband will care her child, Sang hyun also helps with each other’s plan. What fairytale world is.
Characters of Deception
“Broker” contains individuals of saints. The brokers that saves children and raise the other child. Prostitute repents and turns good in her life for her child. Saints becomes the god parents of other parent’s children. Giving love will everyone become a better person?
Because of the “beautiful” storyline.
Kore-Eda previous works are within legal actions, however, in this case, Broker, its about child trafficking, in hopes to differentiate each other. In the context of their character, So young sacrifices, is a hypocritical character and helping the police arrest offenders helps with lessen jail sentence. The lack of the backstory is like “castles in the air.”
The everyday details and interactions makes audience gap connections with story.
Audience cannot empathize to their character as lacking psychological or emotions.
Manipulated characters like the “Wizard of OZ”. viewers are very dissapointed.
Hirokazu Kore even has his not so good days.