Sometimes you choose your family.
2018-06-02
N/A
120 min
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
A genuinely super film about a family of small time chancers who survive on their wits on the verge of poverty. There is something almost Fagin-esque about their behaviour, but in best Robin Hood tradition we always feel that their small-scale criminal activities are carried out as a result of necessity than from any need or wish to do anyone else any harm. They take in a little girl off the street which stretches their already meagre resources but without rancour or complaint and we skip through a series of events, some beautifully poignant some rather more serious. The contrast between the three generations of the "Shibata" family living in a space no bigger than an average garage compared with some of the wealth and Japanese opulence surrounding them is expertly delivered by a strong cast - especially the youngsters - under the careful direction of Hirozaku Koreeda - and makes for a thought-provoking two hours of cinema.
