Shoplifters

FilmColumbia welcomes back the work of master Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (After the Storm) with his Palme d’Or-winner Shoplifters, fresh from its screenings in Toronto and New York. The film is an emotionally rich drama about a tightly-knit, three-generation family of small time thieves who “adopt” an abandoned and abused young girl. In awarding Shoplifters Cannes’ most coveted prize, jury president Cate Blanchett reported that the judges were completely “bowled over by the intermeshing of performances with the directorial vision,” which is at once humane, astringent, and utterly compelling.