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| ▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows Song Kang-ho in the film "Broker." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (YONHAP) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows a scene of the film "Broker." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (YONHAP) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by CJ ENM, shows a scene of the film "Broker." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (YONHAP) |
SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- “Broker,” which won the best actor award for Song Kang-ho at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on the 28th (local time), is a film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda and starred by Korean star actors.
“Broker” is the first Korean film made by Kore-eda, who won the Palme d'Or award in Cannes Film Festival with “Shoplifters” in 2018, which has been spotlighted at home and abroad even before its release, by promoting a splendid lineup of actors including Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Lee Ji-eun, Bae Doona, and Lee Joo-young.
Director Kore-eda who has shown films about family several times, also drew a family film in “Broker” as well. The film depicts how different people who met through baby box gradually becomes a family.
Song Kang-ho played a role Sang-hyun, the broker, who sells babies to couples who need a child, by stealing babies abandoned in a baby box, cooperating with Dong-su (Gang Dong-won).
Strictly speaking, he is a criminal of serious offence, committing human trafficking, yet he does not seem like a villain because he is a character who keeps his own values and standards.
After meeting a young mother So-yeong (Lee Ji-eun), who abandoned her baby son Woo-seong, Sang-hyun, ignored by his wife and a daughter, accompanies on a journey to sell the baby, gradually realizing what family love is.
Song Kang-ho delicately depicted how Sang-hyun changes little by little, based on his own natural acting, also known as a ‘real-life acting.’ In particular, Song’s facial expression of sitting alone after making a choice for So-yeong and her son, which would cause a huge impact on his life, is remarkable.
Since he is acting a character who is a member of the pseudo family, his part of the film is not as much as his previous works, but Song firmly keeps the balance of the actors’ ensemble.
The film itself received a mixed reviews right after its release on the 26th (local time).
British daily newspaper The Guardian rated 2 out of 5 for “Broker,” evaluating, “(the movie is) fundamentally silly, with tiringly shallow characterisation.”
Screen Daily, a film newsletter, rated 1.9, the second lowest score out of 21 films in the competition section.
Some press has pointed out that Sang-hyun and Dong-su, who committed a serious offence, are depicted too kindly and lovely in the film.
About the issue, director Kore-eda claimed that “My philosophy is that there is no one who is completely good or evil during the whole 24 hours,” adding, “I hoped people would not despair about humans after watching “Broker.”
In an interview with Korean press on the previous day, Song Kang-ho also said, “If you try to approach ‘Broker’ only through the genre, you cannot understand Kore-eda’s work,” adding, “To us, it is a kind of expression, grammar, and philosophy, so we do not regret.”
Then, Song commented, “While director Kore-eda sheds light on a cold reality in an objective manner, he let the audience feel the warm heart after watching his movies,” then explained, “'Broker' is also a film that awakens us the preciousness of life, by showing the journey of people who are abandoned from their families.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Kim Jimin.)
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