----------Warning: This article may contain spoilers!

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, a filmmaker who follows in the footsteps of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu with his family-themed films, the 2018 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or-winning drama film Shoplifters (万引き家族) is the subject of today's article. The film, with a relatively low-budget production and the slow-paced norms of arthouse cinema which are the usual characteristics of Kore-eda cinema, carries a unique trait with its significant box office success particularly influenced by Asian audiences. The film tells the story of a poor “family” living in Tokyo and challenges societal norms with its portrayal of the concept of family, especially as a work of art emerging from a highly traditional country like Japan. The family depicted is not a real one but rather an ensemble that has come together, escaping their regular individual lives! Osamu tries to make ends meet with small jobs, while his partner Nobuyo works at a laundry. The other members include the grandmother-like Hatsue, Aki, presumably in her early 20s and exhibits herself for men’s pleasure in a private club, and the young boy Shota, who is of school age but does not attend school. Due to their financial struggles, they frequently resort to theft, mostly stealing food from supermarkets.

One day, Osamu and Shota bring home a little girl named Yuri, whom they find abandoned on the balcony of an apartment building. They take her in, and as it becomes clear that Yuri has been a victim of domestic violence, they start raising her as their own child. In this new family, Yuri receives love and attention, but this arrangement is illegal, naturally. Thus, despite Yuri's disappearance being reported in the media, they hide her from the authorities. In this existing formation, Osamu stands out as a father figure struggling to keep his loved ones together. Nobuyo, as a loving mother, protects Yuri and begins to nurture her, cutting Yuri's hair and even calling her Lin. Shota forms a strong brotherly bond with Yuri, teaching her how to steal and keeping her close. Also, as the film progresses, the distinction between Shota's and Yuri's inclusion in the family becomes increasingly noticeable. It is ambiguous whether Shota was kidnapped by the main characters or abandoned by his family, but it is clear that his family did not look for him, prompting both the audience and Shota himself to question his past, unlike Yuri's clearly shown story. As the film unfolds, the characters' pasts and secrets are gradually revealed to the audience, both explicitly and through details. The death of Hatsue, Shota being caught stealing one day, the truth coming to light, and the family being dispersed by the state and its organs as they try to escape—resulting in each member being scattered in different directions (prison, state care, given back to their original families, etc.)—brings the film to the end.

In the story, everyone has distanced themselves from problematic family experiences, and as a group, they do not live under good conditions. Yet, they are so content and happy with their situation that some resort to stealing while another member, Aki, escapes from their middle-upper-class family to work as she is exposing herself to men for money. Their lives are very chaotic considering the backgrounds, but amidst that chaos, there is an extraordinary order. They are happier than most families we see around us, and this peak of happiness is evident in the famous beach scene, as also shown in most of the movie’s posters. The ultimate point is made by the grandmother Hatsue, who, feeling so lonely after the death of her beloved man, easily has opened her home to a bunch of strangers: The fact that they don't have real family-like expectations of each other and their minimal judgment dynamics might be the biggest secret to their happiness. Their relationships are based on not interfering with each other's matters but sustaining the household economy through small jobs or thefts. However, since the family is fake, it is very easy for their collapse to accelerate when they slip up, as they have come together in a manner that does not conform to societal rules and norms.

A crucial turning point occurs when the owner of the grocery store, which is frequently targeted for their thefts, notices Shota’s intention to steal from his shop once again. To prevent Shota from involving Yuri in the theft, he offers Shota some free snacks. This moment marks a significant shift, as Shota, who previously saw no harm in stealing things that didn't belong to anyone yet from the market, begins to feel uneasy when he also recently witnesses a bag being stolen by Osamu from someone's car by breaking the window. This discomfort, coupled with his questioning of how the family took him in, leads him to the realization that he doesn't want Yuri, whom he perhaps lately feels the closest bond with, to become a thief like them. He causes a commotion by toppling over some items, drawing the attention of the market staff and getting caught, which officially starts the process of the family’s rapid disintegration. When Yuri joined the group, this pragmatic bunch had genuinely started to resemble a family. The family's breakup, therefore, happens just when this resemblance and the viewers' warmest feelings towards them reach their peak. This isn’t merely a plot twist but rather a point that ties back to the film's message to underline the fragility of their formation within the current system. The concept of what constitutes a family is questioned the whole time, and the closest they come to resembling a real one is also the moment when everything turns upside down.