Broker (2022 film)

Development

The idea for Broker was initially conceived by Kore-eda while researching the Japanese adoption system for his 2013 film Like Father, Like Son, discovering in the process its similarities with the South Korean adoption system.^[16] He learned about Japan's only baby box, a place where people can anonymously leave children, and the criticism surrounding the system in Japan. It can be found all around the world, including South Korea, where it is much more popular in comparison with Japan.^[17] After Kore-eda discussed with Song, Bae, Gang making a film together, he decided to combine the two ideas.^[16] Kore-eda had previously become acquainted with Song and Gang at various film festivals, while he met Bae on the set of his 2009 film, Air Doll.^[5] Kore-eda has described Broker as being a companion piece to his 2018 film Shoplifters, with the two films sharing a thematic interest in social outcasts who come together to form unconventional families.^[16]

The film was announced on August 26, 2020, with Song, Bae, and Gang set to star, under the working title reported to be Baby, Box, Broker or simply Broker.^{[4][5][18][19]} Kore-eda originally used Baby, Box, Broker as the goal of the story was to connect the three elements. However, as he was writing the script he settled on Broker because he "realized that [the film] had this structure where it's the detective's side, Soo-jin's side, that ultimately wants the baby to be sold the most. The 'broker' in the film changes as the story unfolds. And I thought by focusing on the word Broker, the title would become very simple and strong. I really liked this structure where the person wanting to sell the baby inverts as the storytelling progresses."^[16]

Writing

After meeting with the three South Korean actors, Kore-eda started working on the script.^[20] Kore-eda said the first image that came to his mind was "of Song Kang-ho, wearing a priest's outfit and holding a baby, smiling at the baby and then selling the baby."^[21][22] After the casting of actress Lee Ji-eun, who is also a renowned singer in South Korea, Kore-eda chose to add a scene where Lee sings a lullaby.^[23] Even though he had written an initial draft, Kore-eda struggled with the ending of Broker and he ended up rewriting it many times during the shooting with the help of Song.^[16]

Casting

Kore-eda said Song was the South Korean actor he wanted to collaborate with the most and the first person who came to his mind for the role of Sang-hyeon. Gang and Bae came to the director's attention after he saw their performances in Secret Reunion and Air Doll respectively, with the latter being directed by Kore-eda himself.^[24] In February 2021, Lee Ji-eun was announced to have joined the cast.^[25] Kore-eda chose to cast Lee after having seen numerous Korean dramas while in quarantine, including the 2018 television series My Mister starring Lee, where her performance impressed him.^[26] Lee said she accepted because she was looking forward to playing a mother when Kore-eda offered her the role.^[23] While preparing for the role, she researched how society views single mothers and the hardships they go through.^[27] In March 2021, it was reported that Lee Joo-young had joined the cast.^[28] She was picked by Kore-eda after he saw her performance in Itaewon Class and A Quiet Dream.^[24]

Filming

Principal photography took place from April 14 to June 22, 2021.^[29] The director of photography is Hong Kyung-pyo.^[1] Notable filming locations include Pohang, Uljin and Samcheok.^[30]

Music

The score was written by South Korean composer Jung Jae-il. It was digitally released on June 15, 2022.^[31]

Songs not featured on the official soundtrack:^[a]

• "Tes Bro!" (테스형!) by Na Huna,^[b] sung by Song Kang Ho in the movie
• "Yeosu Night Sea" (여수 밤바다) by Busker Busker
• "Jin Jin Ja Ra" (진진자라) by Tae Jin-ah
• "The One I Remember" (그때 그 사람) by Shim Soo-bong
• "Wise Up" by Aimee Mann
• "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein" sung by Lee Ji-eun with the popular korean version of the lyrics "Jaljara, uri aga" (잘자라 우리아가) written by Kim Seong-tae [ko]^[32]

Box office

Broker was released on June 8, 2022, on 1,594 screens.^[41] It opened with 146,221 admissions and topped the South Korean box office.^[42] The film crossed 1 million cumulative admissions in 11 days of release, by recording 1,040,709 cumulative viewers.^[43] It became the first film directed by Kore-eda to surpass 1 million admissions in South Korea.^[44]

As of September 10, 2022^[update], it is at 11th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2022 with gross of US$9,672,172 and 1,260,740 admissions.^[3] Its largest international market is Japan, with gross of US$4,470,263.^[2]

Critical response

Broker was screened at the Lumière Theater, the main theater of the Cannes International Film Festival, on May 26, 2022. After the film finished, there was a standing ovation for 12 minutes.^[45] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 149 reviews are positive for the film, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Broker skirts the edges of sentimentality, but is consistently grounded by Kore-eda Hirokazu's warm, tenderly melancholic approach."^[46] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[47]

Ella Kemp of IndieWire graded the film as A− and wrote, "The execution of this premise is, somehow, miraculous in its sensitivity, asking questions about issues of ethics, of choice, of money, and murder, and family, and how to find love in all this sorry mess."^[48]

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney praised the actors' performances and Kore-eda's direction, saying, "much of this might have been formulaic in less artful hands, but Kore-eda has an unfaltering lightness of touch, a way of injecting emotional veracity and spontaneity into every moment."^[1]

Nicholas Barber of the BBC rated the film five stars out of five and called it "one of the year's most delightful films."^[49]

Tim Robey of The Telegraph rated the film two stars out of five and stated, "Anaemic and maudlin by turns, this may be the Cannes competition's biggest disappointment."^[50]

Accolades

Broker was selected to compete for Palme d'Or and won the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.^[51][52] Song Kang-ho became the first South Korean actor to win Best Actor in the Cannes Film Festival history.^[53] The film was selected in CineMasters competition section at Munich Film Festival, where it won the Best International Film award.^[54]