Korean drama at this month’s movie club

On Thursday, September 28 the Phillip Island Movie Club presents “Broker”, a film from Korea.

The film will be screened at St Philip’s in Cowes; doors open at 7.30pm and the movie starts at 8pm.

Made in 2022, this Korean drama was directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Five years after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters, Academy award nominated filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda returned with “Broker”, starring Cannes Best actor winner Song Kang Ho (Parasite).

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 is arguably Japan’s greatest director, and his latest film examines his usual themes of family, the pressure of surviving in an unforgiving economy and the redemptive power of love in a way that is consistently moving and engrossing.

As is often the case with his movies, “Broker” tells the story of people considered marginal by mainstream society who come together to form a kind of family, and whose lives are changed in a profound way by the connections they form.

His characters are flawed but likeable misfits whom we change our minds about as their stories unfold. This has never been truer than in “Broker”, a movie about two men who sell abandoned babies.

“Broker”, which is set in Korea, begins when a young woman leaves her baby in a church “baby box”.  These boxes actually exist in Korea and are set up so women can safely leave the children they are not able to raise. 

Hirokazu Kore-eda understands that unimaginable life decisions aren’t made easily. They’re often made by people who have reached a fork in the road where neither direction felt like the right one.

We’re all stumbling through life at certain points. And it’s the people we meet on the way, the ones who end up joining us, that keep us moving.

The film is about baby trafficking, you will make value judgements and you will waver. It is a film about survival.

Doors open at 7.30pm and the film starts at 8pm. It runs for 129 minutes and is rated M.

Entrance is by membership only, as this is a requirement of Film Societies for buying the rights to show the film.

We also have a growing 2024 waiting list and any queries or applications for a membership form can be made at phillipislandmovieclub@gmail.com

The next film “A Stitch in Time” will be on Thursday October 26.