Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Sang-hyun is always struggling from debt, and Dong-soo works at a baby box facility. On a rainy night, they steal the baby Woo-sung, who was left in the baby box, to sell him at a good price. Meanwhile, detectives were watching, and they quietly track them down to capture the crucial evidence.
Broker is a warm, humanistic road movie from Hirokazu Kore-eda working in South Korea. The acting ensemble — led by Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, and IU — is the clear standout, delivering nuanced, emotionally layered performances that elevate the material considerably. The plot is engaging and morally complex but follows a fairly familiar found-family arc; the premise of baby brokers is intriguing but the narrative beats become somewhat predictable. Cinematography is competent and occasionally lovely but rarely distinctive. Novelty is moderate — Kore-eda brings his signature gentle humanism to Korean cinema, which is a fresh cross-cultural blend, but the found-family road trip structure is well-trodden. The ending is emotionally satisfying but somewhat expected given the film's tone throughout.