Most critics respond warmly to Broker’s makeshift family, praising Kore-eda’s compassion for people whose actions might otherwise make them difficult to care about. Praise clusters around the ensemble, particularly Song Kang-ho and Lee Ji-eun, and the mixture of gentle comedy, loneliness and sadness.
The spread is wide, however, and sentimentality is the main dividing point: sympathetic reviews find the tenderness earned, while detractors find that it softens the difficult subject of baby trafficking too readily. The Guardian and The Telegraph object to thin characterisation and unconvincing pathos, placing them firmly against the prevailing warmth. Reservations elsewhere concern the deliberate pace, busy plotting and distracting subplots; even several admirers consider it less accomplished than Shoplifters. There is also disagreement over the central mother: NME finds her underwritten, while Paste praises the depth of her characterisation.
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IndieWire
27 May 2022 · A- · Ella Kemp
90
Kore-eda delivers another unclassifiable triumph about redefining family through unconventional, morally complex bonds in a road-movie setup that balances ethical questions with sensitivity and light.
Kore-eda weaves a humanistic, empathetic found-family fable around moral ambiguity and human trafficking. The film mines grace notes and soulfulness without turning overly sentimental, aided by fine performances.
The critic describes a gentle, bittersweet Korean road movie with strong performances, especially from Song Kang-ho, that offers lighter but worthwhile family drama territory for the director.
The critic praises the sensitive, compassionate examination of family and abandonment, highlighting understated feeling, ensemble performances, and the director's mastery of emotional nuance in a more plot-driven story.
A tender and tragic drama about redemption and makeshift families that is a sensitive, oddball, often surprisingly funny family road movie. It is beautiful, deeply humane, and affirms the value of forging family despite risks.
The critic calls it a crowd-pleasing, gently joyful tale of surrogate families and misfits, reinvigorating the thieves-with-a-heart-of-gold trope through strong performances and charm, though not quite matching Shoplifters.
The critic finds it a sad, wise, quietly funny take on finding bonds and identities, with great scenes and huge compassion for flawed characters. It falls short of Shoplifters and flirts with mawkishness at times.
The critic highlights the tender, low-key exploration of surrogate families and imperfect connections among lonely characters, noting the film's sweet and sorrowful tone without easy sentimentality.
The film continues Kore-eda’s interest in makeshift families via an unlikely Korean road movie, with solid turns from Song Kang-ho and IU against type, though subplots are unmemorable and the pace is deliberate.
The review calls Broker a rare dud from Kore-eda, weakened by clunky pathos, thin characterisation and a trite central metaphor. It highlights the film's maudlin tone and miscast elements amid its story of child trafficking.
The critic finds the film a rare misstep for Kore-eda, undermined by implausibility, shallow characters and excessive sentimentality in its road-movie story of baby trafficking. The tone is criticised as sudsy and unconvincing despite strong casting.
The review commends Kore-eda for bringing his humanist touch to a genre-clashing story of abandoned newborns and amateur traffickers revealed as kind-hearted. It highlights the director's skill at finding sympathy for flawed characters in a surprising mix of road movie and social realism.
Kore-eda crafts a moving drama about people pushed together by fate who form unexpected families and elevate each other. The film excels as an empathy machine, shifting emotional centers with compassion for its characters despite melodramatic contrivances.
The critic finds the film more saccharine and plot-driven than Shoplifters, with broader sentimental appeal, but praises its undeniable warmth and the found-family dynamics among the characters.
Even when edging toward sentimentality, the film is redeemed by Kore-eda’s humanism in its portrait of chosen families and broken people finding connection, with strong performances and expressive visuals, though not a career high.
Kore-eda returns to Cannes with a gentle road movie about law-breaking misfits forming a makeshift family around an abandoned baby, led with warmth by Song Kang-ho and marked by earned sentimentality and humanism.
Kore-eda turns a grim premise into a sweet and charming road picture full of gentle humanity and warm playfulness. The director discovers hope and tenderness among marginal characters without sentimentality.
The critic praises the film as a sweet and soulful road movie that meditates on loneliness and the yearning for intimacy through its eccentric tale of baby brokers. It singles out the director's ability to deliver a melancholic yet heartfelt story despite the unusual premise.
Kore-eda offers a warm, nonjudgmental look at the gray market for adoption, leading viewers to empathize with nearly all involved. The film expands from a crime story into a gentle, sentimental group hug about makeshift families.
The critic praises Kore-eda for turning potentially unsympathetic characters who sell babies into a warmly observed found family that audiences root for, blending road-trip comedy, sentiment, and melancholy into a human portrait of love and connection.
The critic praises the warm, empathetic exploration of found families and the kindness of others in a story about baby brokers, highlighting strong performances especially from Song Kang-ho and Lee Ji-eun.
The critic highlights the film's sweet yet sad exploration of found families and flawed but compelling characters, with outstanding performances throughout. It singles out Song Kang-ho's charismatic yet devastating lead turn while noting some busyness in the police subplot.
The critic sees it as another moving Kore-eda drama about found families forming on a road trip, praising the empathy, performances especially from Lee Ji-eun, and life-affirming qualities despite some tonal issues and excessive length.
The critic finds the film enjoyable overall for its emotional moments and strong performances, particularly Song Kang-ho’s, but criticizes the overloaded plot, weak characterization of the central mother figure, and an abrupt final-act shift that undermines earlier growth.
The critic finds the film a major disappointment that fails to live up to Kore-eda's standards, with major plot holes and unlikeable characters that undermine the story of found family on a road trip.
The critic finds the film frustrating and pedantic, repeating familiar themes about unconventional families without adding urgency or new insight, resulting in an unfulfilling mainstream effort.
The critic praises the film's empathetic portrayal of its ensemble and its treatise on found families versus societal systems that hinder care. It singles out Kore-eda's delicate character work, rich pacing, and the multidimensional depth given to the central female character So-young.
The film is a fine but none-too-memorable drama that covers familiar ground for the director in exploring makeshift families. It builds another unconventional family around petty but goodhearted crooks and hits some bum notes in tone.
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