Film

Shoplifters

Name: Shoplifters
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Released: 2018
Cast: Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Kairi Jo, Miyu Sasaki

Kore-eda's quiet, devastating study of a makeshift family surviving on Tokyo's margins through petty theft and stubborn tenderness. Told through patient, unhurried observation rather than melodrama, it builds toward a reckoning with what actually makes a family — blood, choice, or need. Slow, humane, and gutting rather than sensational; for viewers who want their heart worked on gradually, not wrung.

TMDb rating

7.8

If you liked this

Parasite2019

Another poor family whose survival depends on deception, shot through with tenderness and dread in equal measure; a masterclass in escalating from comedy to catastrophe, and a global sensation for good reason.

But Its satire and violence are far broader and blacker; if you loved Shoplifters' quiet ache, this will feel louder and crueler.

Nobody Knows2004

Same director, same patient camera, watching children left to fend for themselves in a Tokyo apartment after their mother vanishes; unbearably tender and never once sentimental.

But Even slower and sadder, with almost no plot momentum; a demanding watch that's in some ways bleaker than Shoplifters.

The Florida Project2017

Poverty seen through a child's eyes just outside Disney World, with the same eye for grace amid grind; warm, sun-bleached, and heartbreaking in its final minutes.

But Brighter colours and more overt sentiment than Kore-eda's restraint; the ending lands with a bigger, more emotional jolt.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Streetwise1984

Same structure — outcasts pooling resources and affection to survive — but nonfiction, proving the 'chosen family of thieves' idea Kore-eda dramatises is simply, sadly true.

A real documentary following homeless teenagers in Seattle who form their own surrogate family on the street; unscripted, unpolished, and more devastating for it.

But No safety of fiction here — these are real kids and real, lasting consequences; harrowing in a rawer, less contained way.

Capernaum2018

A Lebanese street child sues his own parents for giving him life; similarly interested in how poverty forces impossible moral choices onto kids too young to bear them.

But Far more relentless in its misery, with less warmth to offset it; a tougher, more punishing watch overall.

Our Little Sister2015no page yet

Kore-eda again, gentler this time: four sisters take in a half-sibling and slowly become a family, told through meals and small daily rituals.

But Almost plotless and consistently gentle throughout; if you want tension or stakes, this offers very little of either.

Roma2018

A domestic worker's quiet devotion to a fracturing household, shot in aching black and white; shares Shoplifters' interest in who actually holds a family together.

But Cuarón's camera is grander and more technically showy than Kore-eda's plainness; less intimate, more monumental in scale.

Nomadland2021

People pushed outside conventional society building makeshift community on the road; a documentary-adjacent tenderness toward lives usually overlooked entirely.

But Contemplative to the point of stillness, centred on one solitary woman rather than an ensemble; a very different rhythm.

Tokyo Sonata2008no page yet

A Japanese family unravels under economic shame and secrets kept from one another; the same interest in how precarious ordinary life can quietly become.

But Tips into surreal, almost absurdist territory by its end, a tonal swerve Shoplifters never makes.

A Separation2011

An Iranian drama where a small lie told to protect someone spirals into a moral reckoning for an entire family; patient and devastating in similar measure.

But Courtroom and legal elements give it a different shape entirely; more argument-driven, less purely observational than Kore-eda.

Paper Moon1973

Same bones — a stray child absorbed into a household of small-time crooks — reworked as a wry, affectionate road movie instead of social realism, proving the premise can carry comedy as easily as heartbreak.

A con man and an orphaned girl grift their way across Depression-era America, forming an accidental family built on lies; funny, warm, and gorgeous in black and white.

But Far lighter and more comic, with a classic Hollywood polish that never risks the despair Shoplifters lives inside.