Shoplifters - MANBIKI KAZOKU

Pitch

On the way back from another shoplifting expedition, Osamu and his son have found a little girl in the street who seems to have been left to fend for herself. At first reluctant to shelter her overnight, his wife agrees to look after her when she realises that her parents are ill treating her. In spite of their poverty, surviving thanks to petty theft which their meagre wages, the members of this family seem to live happily - until an incident suddenly reveals their most terrible secrets...

“Since the 2011 earthquake, I’ve been wondering about people who are forever repeating that family ties are important. And that made me want to explore the nature of these relationships by focusing on a family linked by crime... It’s the story of a family, the story of a man who tries to assume his role as a father and going even further, the initiatory story of a young boy. I wanted to shed a different light on a dysfunctional family.” Kore-eda Hirokazu