Broker (2022 film)

Ha Sang-hyeon volunteers at a church with his friend Dong-soo, and together they run an illegal operation where they secretly remove babies left in the church's baby box and sell them through the adoption black market. One night, So-young leaves her newborn son, Woo-sung, at the church. When So-young returns to the church, Dong-soo explains the brokers' plan, and she decides to accompany him and Sang-hyeon to meet potential adoptive parents for Woo-sung. After visiting the orphanage where Dong-soo grew up, Hae-jin, a child from the orphanage, secretly climbs into the group's van and joins them. The police are investigating So-young for having murdered Woo-sung's biological father, while detectives Soo-jin and Lee are pursuing the brokers. After an unsuccessful sting operation, Soo-jin uses the case against So-young to secure her cooperation in arresting the brokers. The widow of Woo-sung’s father employs Tae-ho, a gangster that Sang-hyeon owes money to, to get Woo-sung back. The brokers eventually find a couple willing to adopt Woo-sung on the condition that So-young will never meet him. So-young later reveals to Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo that she murdered Woo-sung's father. At an amusement park, Dong-soo discusses the idea of the three of them raising Woo-sung together as a family. However, So-young says that she will be arrested for murder and will not be able to raise Woo-sung. Sang-hyeon meets with his estranged daughter, who says her mother does not want further contact and is expecting another child, while Soo-jin listens nearby. Soo-jin instructs So-young to turn herself in for accidental manslaughter in exchange for a three-year sentence and the ability to see Woo-sung afterward. Sang-hyeon and Dong-soo deduce that So-young has made a deal with the police but accept that she is acting for Woo-sung's sake and proceed with the plan. On the way to the meeting, Tae-ho confronts them, leading Dong-soo to continue alone while Sang-hyeon stays behind to negotiate with him. At the meeting, Dong-soo is arrested by the police and learns So-young has turned herself in. At a transit center, Sang-hyeon sees a news report stating that a body has been found in the same Seoul underground shopping center where he last met Tae-ho, and that the victim is a gangster from Busan. Three years later, Soo-jin has adopted Woo-sung. Although the couple who tried to adopt him were barred for their illegal involvement, she still lets them visit Woo-sung. After So-young is released from prison, Soo-jin writes to her and arranges a meeting with Woo-sung in a park, noting that Sang-hyeon cannot be found. Hae-jin tries to hitchhike to the park, but the orphanage bus picks him up instead. Now working at a gas station, So-young looks at a photo of the group. At the park, a hand-laundry van arrives. As So-young runs to meet Woo-sung, the van, displaying the same photo she keeps, drives off. ==Cast==

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. After Kore-eda discussed with Song, Bae, Gang making a film together, he decided to combine the two ideas. 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. 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." 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." 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. In February 2021, Lee Ji-eun was announced to have joined the cast. 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. Lee said she accepted because she was looking forward to playing a mother when Kore-eda offered her the role. While preparing for the role, she researched how society views single mothers and the hardships they go through. In March 2021, it was reported that Lee Joo-young had joined the cast. She was picked by Kore-eda after he saw her performance in Itaewon Class and A Quiet Dream. The director of photography is Hong Kyung-pyo. Music The score was written by South Korean composer Jung Jae-il. It was digitally released on June 15, 2022. Songs not featured on the official soundtrack: • "Tes Bro!" () by Na Huna, sung by Song Kang Ho in the movie • "Yeosu Night Sea" () by Busker Busker • "Jin Jin Ja Ra" () by Tae Jin-ah • "The One I Remember" () 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" () written by ==Release==

In May 2022, prior to the film's Cannes premiere, Neon acquired North American distribution rights. Picturehouse Entertainment acquired UK and Irish distribution rights. The film's rights were also pre-sold to Metropolitan Filmexport (France), Gaga Corporation (Japan), Koch Films (Germany and Italy), Triart Film (Scandinavia), September Films (Benelux), Edko Film (Hong Kong and Macao) and Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand). According to CJ E&M, the film has been sold to 171 countries ahead of its premiere in competition at 75th Cannes Film Festival. The number of countries then rose to 188. Broker was released in Hong Kong and Singapore on June 23 and in Japan on June 24. It was selected as the closing film of the 69th Sydney Film Festival and was screened on June 19. The Canadian premiere was held at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival in September. It was released in the United States on December 26, 2022. It also was released in France in the same month. ==Reception==

Box office Broker was released on June 8, 2022, on 1,594 screens. It opened with 146,221 admissions and topped the South Korean box office. The film crossed 1 million cumulative admissions in 11 days of release, by recording 1,040,709 cumulative viewers. It became the first film directed by Kore-eda to surpass 1 million admissions in South Korea. , 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. Its largest international market is Japan, with gross of US$4,470,263. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of reviews are positive for the film, with an average rating of . 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." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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." 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." Nicholas Barber of the BBC rated the film five stars out of five and called it "one of the year's most delightful films." 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." Accolades Broker was selected to compete for Palme d'Or and won the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Song Kang-ho became the first South Korean actor to win Best Actor in the Cannes Film Festival history. The film was selected in CineMasters competition section at Munich Film Festival, where it won the Best International Film award. ==Notes==