Manbiki kazoku

English title: Shoplifters

Genre: crime drama  

With: Lily Franky (Osamu Shibata), Sakura Andô (Nobuyo Shibata), Kirin Kiki (Hatsue Shibata), Mayu Matsuoka (Aki Shibata), Jyo Kairi (Shota Shibata), Miyu Sasaki (Yuri Hojo), Sôsuke Ikematsu (4 ban-san)

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Screenplay: Hirokazu Koreeda

Release: 2018

Studio: AOI Promotion, GAGA, Fuji TV Movies et al.

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.4/10

  

The More the Merrier  

 

QuickView 

Story-line: one winter evening, after shoplifting a grocery store, Osamu and his son Shota hear a noise in a back alley and see a little girl alone inside a cold building. Moved by her helplessness, Osamu decides to bring her home to his family.

Pluses: top-level acting by an endearing cast (in spite of their characters’ faults), professional direction, an intelligent and understated screenplay that develops naturally and musters a full range of situations and emotions, credible production values, attractive cinematography, a versatile musical score and a surprising ending.

Minuses: (1) to help you understand the plot without revealing too much of it, I should mention that the main characters here are Osamu, Nobuyo (his lady), Shota (their teenage ‟son”), Aki (Nobuyo’s ‟sister”) and Hatsue (‟Grandma”), who live together as a loosely structured family of odd jobbers and shoplifters; Yuri, the little girl, will become its sixth member. (2) One piece of advice: this film needs a full 30 minutes to introduce its characters and prepare for takeoff; it may feel mundane at first but your patience will be amply rewarded later on.

Comments: SHOPLIFTERS is a very well-made, complex and intriguing film that becomes increasingly poignant – and astonishing – as you follow the Shibata family through thick and thin. This Oscar and BAFTA nominee and Palme d’or winner caught me off guard with its slowly developing but potent drama. 

MBiS 

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Pickpocket

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Martin La Salle (Michel), Marika Green (Jeanne), Pierre Leymarie (Jacques), Jean Pélégri (the Police Inspector), Dolly Scal (Michel’s mother), Kassagi (the first accomplice), Pierre Étaix (the second accomplice)

Director: Robert Bresson

Screenplay: Robert Bresson

Release: 1959

Studio: Lux, Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Rating: G

MBiS score: 8.5/10 

 

‟I had made my decision some days before. But would I have the nerve?” 

 

QuickView 

Story-line: one day at the Longchamp racetrack, while anxious bettors throw money on thoroughbreds, Michel looks for a chance to pick someone’s pocket. Given an opportunity, he seizes it, experiences great pleasure as he leaves the track… but is promptly arrested by plainclothes policemen.

Pluses: fine performances by Martin La Salle (the meticulous and taciturn Michel), Marika Green (a quietly brave Jeanne) and cast, restrained direction, a patient, disciplined and surprising screenplay notable for its pauses, shifty characters and spare dialogues, strikingly spartan production values, a discreet but ever supportive musical score and a challenging ending.

Minuses: none I can think of. However, as noted when I reviewed A MAN ESCAPED, you will need several minutes to get used to Robert Bresson’s cryptic, radical moviemaking.     

Comments: this sketchy, introspective and minimalist film shares the seriousness of Truffaut’s psychological studies and the philosophical underpinnings of Camus’s great existential novel, The Stranger. Bresson’s work is about ideas as much as action as it toys with Michel’s weaknesses, hidden desires and inability to communicate. Intelligent, original, even daring, PICKPOCKET ably demonstrates that less is more, in a vein that reminded me of David Mamet’s excellent HOUSE OF GAMES. It also serves as a warning to us all: do be careful when in a crowd or a public place. 

 

MBiS 

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