Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's Palme d'Or winner is a masterclass in humanist social realism. The plot is layered and quietly devastating, peeling back the constructed 'family' with careful restraint until buried truths upend everything — a genuinely exceptional narrative construction. The ensemble acting is uniformly extraordinary, particularly Lily Franky and Sakura Ando, who anchor the film's emotional core with remarkable naturalism. Cinematography is warm and intimate but relatively understated, serving the story well without distinctive formal ambition. Novelty is high: while Kore-eda works within a tradition of Japanese domestic drama, the specific moral complexity around chosen family, criminality, and social neglect creates a singular, unmistakable voice. The ending is powerful but slightly diffuse — the final image is haunting, yet the film's denouement across its final act loses a little cohesion as it disperses across multiple characters' fates.