Shoplifters (万引き家族 Manbiki Kazoku, literally Shoplifting Family) is a 2018 Japanese drama film

directed, written and edited by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring Lily Franky and Sakura Ando, it is about a
family who rely on shoplifting as they cope with a life of poverty. The film premiered on 13 May 2018 at
the Cannes Film Festival, where it went on to win the Palme d'Or. The film is scheduled to be released in
Japan on 8 June 2018.

Contents

1 Plot

2 Cast

3 Production

4 Release

4.1 Critical response

4.2 Accolades

5 References

6 External links

Plot

Somewhere in Tokyo, Osamu Shibata and his wife Nobuyo live in poverty. While Osamu receives
occasional employment and Nobuyo has a low-paying job, the family relies in large part on the
grandmother's pension. As he is shoplifting for groceries with his son, Shota, they discover Yuri, a
homeless girl. Osamu takes her home, where the family observes evidence of abuse. Despite their
strained finances, they informally adopt her. However, the Tokyo police, aware that Yuri is missing,
begin to search for her.

Cast

Lily Franky as Osamu Shibata

Sakura Ando as Nobuyo Shibata

Mayu Matsuoka as Aki Shibata

Sosuke Ikematsu as 4 ban-san

Kairi Jō as Shota Shibata

Miyu Sasaki as Yuri

Naoto Ogata

Yoko Moriguchi

Yūki Yamada

Moemi Katayama

Kengo Kora as Takumi Maezono

Chizuru Ikewaki as Kie Miyabe

Akira Emoto

Kirin Kiki as Hatsue Shibata

Production

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda said that he developed the story for Shoplifters when considering his earlier
film Like Father, like Son; the question was "what makes a family"?[1] Kore-eda described it as his
"socially conscious" film.[2] With this story, Kore-eda said he did not want the perspective to be from
only a few individual characters, but to capture "the family within the society", a "wide point of view" in
the vein of his 2004 Nobody Knows.[1] He set his story in Tokyo and was also influenced by the Japanese
Recession,[1] including media reports of how people lived in poverty and of shoplifting.[3]

Production began in December 2017,[4] with Fuji Television Network, Gaga, and AOI Pro producing.[5]
Lily Franky and Sakura Ando joined the cast before principal photography began in mid-December.[6]
Child actors Sasaki Miyu and Jyo Kairi were cast for their first film.[5] Sosuke Ikematsu, Chizuru Ikewaki
and Yūki Yamada joined the cast in February.[7] Cinematographer Kondo Ryuto used 35 mm film with a
Arricam ST, aware 35 mm was a preference of Kore-eda's and also seeking the right texture and grain for
the story.[8]

Release

With Gaga Corporation as its distributor,[5] the film was selected to screen at the 2018 Cannes Film
Festival,[9] where it went on to win the Palme d'Or for best film at the festival.[10] In Japan, it is
scheduled for release on 8 June 2018.[11] Magnolia Pictures also obtained the rights to distribute the
film in North America.[12] On May 23 2018, Thunderbird Releasing acquired the UK distribution
rights.[13]
Critical response

Hirokazu Kore-eda received positive reviews for his direction.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 12
reviews, with an average rating of 9/10.[14] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 93
out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[15]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave Shoplifters 4/5 stars, declaring it a "rich, satisfying film".[16] The
Hollywood Reporter critic Deborah Young called it "bittersweet" as it "contrasts the frigid emotions of
socially correct behavior with the warmth and happiness of a dishonest lower-class family".[17] Robbie
Collin of The Daily Telegraph awarded it five stars, hailing it as an "outstanding domestic drama, crafted
by Kore-eda with crystalline insight and an unsparing emotional acuity".[18]

For IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave it a grade of "A–" and wrote the film "stings" with "the loneliness of
not belonging to anyone, and the messiness of sticking together".[19] The Wrap's Ben Croll declared it
Kore-eda's "richest film to date".[20] In Time Out, Geoff Andrew gave it four stars and saluted Kore-eda
as "a modern-day Ozu".[21] Variety's Maggie Lee also compared it to Oliver Twist by Charles
Dickens;[22] Lily Franky's character Osamu was likewise compared to Dickens' character Fagin.[16]

Accolades

The film competed at the Cannes Film Festival,[23] where it won the Palme d'Or on 19 May.[24] It was
the first Japanese Palme d'Or-winner since The Eel in 1997.[25][26] Jury president Cate Blanchett
explained the decision: "We were completely bowled over by Shoplifters. How intermeshed the
performances were with the directorial vision".[27