Broker

My interest was really piqued by Broker when Song Kang-ho won Best Actor for his performance at the Cannes Film Festival this year so I went to see it at the Broadway last night (I have now seen every new release currently playing at the Broadway which is a challenge I often set for myself but rarely achieve).  I was incredibly moved by this heartwarming portrait of an unexpected family.  Moon So-young (Lee Ji-eun) leaves her son Woo-sung (Park Ji-yong) at a baby box located in a church where Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won) works part-time and Ha Sang-hyeon (Song Kang-ho) volunteers.  The two of them have a scheme where they periodically steal the babies left behind and sell them on the black market.  They take Woo-sung but, when So-young returns to the church to claim him, they convince her to join their scheme by offering her a portion of the money.  They travel to an orphanage to find prospective parents and then begin an odyssey across the country only to discover that one of the orphans, Hae-jin (Im Seung-soo), has stowed away in their van because he wants to be adopted too.  However, two detectives, Soo-jin (Bae Doona) and Lee (Lee Joo-young), are pursuing them but not everything is as it seems.  Every character, including the police officer, is broken and has something to hide but they all come to understand and care about each other even as they make difficult decisions about what is best for Woo-sung.  Human trafficking is clearly wrong (I don't think it is romanticized in any way) but the narrative does explore the ways in which each character's choices, or lack thereof, have brought them to this point and I really empathized with them due, in no small part, to the marvelous performances from the entire cast.  There were two scenes, in particular, that brought me to tears including when So-young tells her son and then everyone else that she is happy they were born and when So-young and Dong-soo ride on a ferris wheel and think about what it would be like to raise Woo-sung themselves.  I loved the repeated use of rain as a symbol of new beginnings and the atmospheric score is very affecting.  This is a lovely film that is definitely worth seeking out.