Set to screen at the Cannes Film Festival next month, Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker is based on some bizarre historical facts. While the basic set-up for the film sees a group of people brought together, it is by the strange custom of baby-boxes. Known also as public hatches (or “Baby post boxes” in Japanese), newborn babies can be anonymously abandoned, to be picked up by special caregivers who are sent an alert when a baby is deposited. While popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, they can still be found—and used—in Germany, Poland, and Pakistan. The reset of the plot is being kept underwraps but you can check out the trailer below:
This is not the first time Kore-eda has dealt with real-world traumas before. As far back as his 2004 drama film Nobody Knows (focusing on the 1988 Sugamo child abandonment case), the Japanese filmmaker never has been afraid to delve into heavy material. And as his 2019 English-language film The Truth shows, he's not afraid to cross boundaries. It's for this reason the film will actually be his first Korean-language flick and star a South Korean cast consisting of popular actors of that country such as Song Kang-ho, Bae Doona, Gang Dong-won, and Lee Ji-eun. In other words, the best news for cinephiles, is a filmmaker who refuses to stop challenging himself, despite having made films since his 1991 documentary Lessons from a Calf.
Broker will serve as his 15th feature film and will hit theaters sometime in June. Stay tuned!