Shoplifters (2018)

Shoplifters (2018) is a quietly powerful crime drama about an unconventional, impoverished family in Tokyo who survive by pooling odd jobs, a pension, and a practiced routine of small-scale shoplifting. When patriarch Osamu and his son find a shivering little girl outside, the household reluctantly takes her in, giving her a new name and a place in their fragile domestic life. As the family teaches the child their ways and grows closer, hidden motivations and long-buried secrets begin to surface. What starts as a matter-of-fact survival strategy gradually becomes a moral portrait that probes what makes a family — blood, choice, or necessity — and asks whether love can justify wrongdoing. What you’ll experience watching this film: - Intimate, naturalistic storytelling focused on character interactions rather than action. - A slow-burn emotional arc that alternates gentle warmth and quiet humour with mounting tension and moral unease. - Realistic, affecting performances that reveal the characters’ tenderness, desperation, and contradictions. - Subtle social critique about poverty, marginalization, and the gaps in formal systems of care. - An increasingly unsettled atmosphere as an unforeseen event forces the characters to confront the consequences of their choices, leading to a powerful, thought-provoking climax rather than neat resolutions. Overall, Shoplifters is a compassionate, unsettling drama that lingers after the credits, inviting viewers to reconsider assumptions about family, right and wrong, and what people will do to protect those they care about.

Actors: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Runtime: 121 min

Genres: Crime, Drama

7.4 /10 93 /100 7.9 /10 8.2 /10