The film follows two brokers who sell orphaned infants, circumventing the bureaucracy of legal adoption, to affluent couples who can’t have children of their own. After an infant’s mother surprises the duo by returning to ensure her child finds a good home, the three embark on a journey to find the right couple, building an unlikely family of their own.

Hirokazu Kore-eda was born in Tokyo in 1962. Originally intended to be a novelist, after graduating from Waseda University in 1987 he went on to become an assistant director at T.V. Man Union.  Kore-eda snuck off set to film Lessons from a Calf (1991). His first feature, Maborosi (1995), based on a Teru Miyamoto novel and drawn from his own experiences while filming August Without Him (1994), won jury prizes at Venice and Chicago. The main themes of his oeuvre include memory, loss, death and the intersection of documentary and fictive narratives.

“This masterful drama has Kore-eda’s almost impossible grace and empathy in every scene, further exemplifying his ability to tell emotionally raw stories without devolving into melodrama.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Even when it edges toward sentimentality, Broker is redeemed by Kore-eda Hirokazu’s customarily bracing humanism.” ~ Kenji Fujishima, Slant Magazine

World Cinema, Drama

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