Shoplifters (2018) Review: Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or Family on the Margin

Is Shoplifters worth watching?

Yes — a Palme d’Or winner that is also a film you can feel in your chest. It earns a 89% Celluloid Score from editorial rating (99), Metascore (93), Letterboxd (4.2/5), and IMDb (7.9/10). The 92% audience snapshot is display-only and is not in the composite.

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Japanese original runs 120 minutes. On Celluloid it anchors the Japan 2010s beside Drive My Car — one a family on the edge, one a grief in a Saab.

What makes a family

Osamu and Nobuyo’s household is not legal; it is functional. Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Kirin Kiki, and the children build a life out of shoplifting codes and shared baths. Taking in a neglected girl is the moral act that destroys them, because love leaves evidence. Kore-eda refuses to turn poverty into a sermon or theft into cool.

The number

Editorial 99, Metascore 93, Letterboxd 4.2, IMDb 7.9: 89% composite — among the highest Japanese scores on this site. The IMDb is the conservative one; trust the rest.

Verdict

Mandatory. Then Broker if you want Kore-eda’s Korean variation, which is kinder and smaller. Movie page.