Some highlights: the booth scenes seem to parallel the (heartbreaking) ones in Paris, Texas (1984); that there is so little tension in the film (perhaps reminding us My Neighbor Totoro [1988]); and the film is almost—or at least relatively—ruthless in showing us the administrative consequences of being caught for a crime.
Necessity has essentially taken this family back in time, away from television, most phones, and social media at large. Radically, Kore-eda seems at times to be saying that the Japanese recession might’ve been good for the nuclear family unit—a reactionary notion that thematically links the auteur’s work to that of Ozu Yasujirô.
— Chuck Bowen (Slant Magazine)
Synopsis: In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.