After receiving a twelve-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, the much anticipated “Broker” has been widely released in North American theaters, for a limited time. Legendary Korean actor Kang Song-ho won the Best Actor award at Cannes and is expected to keep on winning in the awards season ahead.
The film follows a couple of baby brokers who sell orphaned infants on the black market to affluent couples. Complications arise when one of the babies’ mothers return in order to ensure that her child finds a happy home. The three adults, with infant in tow, then set forth on their mission and in the process forges an odd family of their own.
With an impressive 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, “Broker” is a favorite among critics and audiences alike. Critic Gary Kramer of Salon says, “This is a highly satisfying drama about love, families and forgiveness, starting over and creating a better life.”
The Cast of “Broker”
Starring as Kang Song-ho’s partner in crime is Gang Dong-won, who is most recognizable for his role in Train to Busan 2, “Peninsula”. Lee Ji-eun stars as the tough young mother who decides to give up her baby. Lee began her career as a singer under her stage name, IU, and achieved much success in the world of K-Pop. As an actress, she garnered critical acclaim in 2018 for her role as a desperate office worker in “My Mister”.
Starring as the police detective investigating the illegal organization is Bae Doona. Bae’s most critically acclaimed performances can be found in New Korean Cinema classics like Park Chan Wook’s “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and Bong Joon Ho’s “The Host”. Apart from her work in Korea, Bae has also worked with the Wachowskis on the movie “Cloud Atlas“.
The Director of “Broker”
The film’s director is Hirokazu Kore-eda. After starting his career in TV, he burst onto the international scene with the haunting “Nobody Knows”, a story of four children living illegally by themselves in Japan. He won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with “Like Father, Like Son”, which follows a businessman who finds out that his biological son was switched at birth. Kore-eda is most known, however, for his Academy Award-nominated and Palme D’or-winning film “Shoplifters”, about a group of criminals that forms their own family of misfits.
How to Watch
Many Korean films never make it to American theaters; luckily, this is not the case here. But how long it remains in theaters will largely depend on audience turnout. “Broker” is scheduled to be available for streaming on Hulu in April 2023.
Catch it now at your local theater by searching online or on Fandango.
Enjoy the trailer for “Broker” below and catch the film with your friends and family at a theater near you.