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EVEN MORE EYES: Episode # 75 – Broker [Review]

James Humphrey

4 comments on EVEN MORE EYES: Episode # 75 – Broker [Review]

In this brief episode of ‘Even More Eyes’, James and Imo review director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest feature Broker (2023), starring Song Kang-ho, Gang Dong-won, Lee Ji-eun, Lee Joo-young, Im Seung-soo and Bae Doona. 

Taking an unusual detour from high octane action and superhero antics, the two critics settle into the Japanese filmmaker’s first foray into South Korean society. A young mother’s fateful decision to leave her newborn baby at a church depository box has life-changing consequences for her, two opportunistic brokers, a mischevious orphan, and the pursuing police.

For one of our critics it’s a return to Kore-eda’s thematics of social class and unfamiliar familial bonds (2013’s Like Father, Like Son, 2017’s After the Storm and 2018’s Shoplifters) , while for another it’s their first encounter with the director-writer’s quietly powerful work. 

Do they think this feature is Kore-eda’s finest or spinning the wheel on his usual topics? Click play to find out.

Click here to listen to Episode # 75 or listen on Spotify below:

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4 responses to “EVEN MORE EYES: Episode # 75 – Broker [Review]”

  1. 4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: My Top Films of 2023 [Review] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes Avatar
    4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: My Top Films of 2023 [Review] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes

    […] (Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Screenplay. Hirokazu Kore-eda): Full podcast review here. When baby Woo-sung is left by his young mother at a baby deposit box, it begins a sequence of […]

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  2. EVEN MORE EYES: Episode # 87 – 2023 Review [Special] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes Avatar
    EVEN MORE EYES: Episode # 87 – 2023 Review [Special] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes

    […] review episodes, check out: ‘Barbenheimer‘, ‘The Boy and the Heron’, ‘Broker‘ , ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves‘, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy […]

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  3. 4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: 4 Top Films from 2024 (so far)… [JAN-APRIL] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes Avatar
    4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: 4 Top Films from 2024 (so far)… [JAN-APRIL] – 4 Eyes on the Screen + Even More Eyes

    […] Hirokazu Kore-ed’a latest melancholic drama on difficult family relationships appears to take inspiration from famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950). The same pivotal moments are explored from at least three different characters and just when you think you have the story settled, the subsequent point of view upends your idea completely. Perspective is everything and this film sensitively explores the prevalence of reputation, suspicion and prejudice in Japanese society. While slightly deviating from his lighter portrayals of ordinary life for a sustained thriller-like tone, Kore-eda loses none of the naturalistic, sympathetic performances that makes his work so compelling.   […]

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  4. 4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: My Top Films of 2025 [Review] – 4 EYES ON THE SCREEN + EVEN MORE EYES: a cinema blog & podcast Avatar
    4 EYES ON THE SCREEN: My Top Films of 2025 [Review] – 4 EYES ON THE SCREEN + EVEN MORE EYES: a cinema blog & podcast

    […] hijinks and heartfelt struggles of the students. The approach recalls the balanced filmmaking of Hirokazu Kore-eda, with its attentiveness to both political realities and intimate character development. The young […]

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