Shoplifters (2018)

This is a morally complicated movie, and after thinking about it for over a week, it is no easier to disentangle.
The movie opens with a man, Osamu, and a boy, Shota, in a store. They keep making eye contact, moving slowly through the aisles. The message is that they’ve done this before. They will do this again. They are shoplifting, but we instantly get the feeling that they’re doing it to survive. They’re getting food for their family, not taking trinkets from a fancy store.
On the way home that night, the man and boy see a girl on a balcony. We get the impression they’ve seen her before. Despite their obvious need, the man offers the girl a croquette, and she ends up coming home with them.  At home, there are other mouths to feed. We meet the mother named Nobuyo, another woman named Aki and a grandmother. And now there’s a new mouth with a girl named Juri. When Osamu and Nobuyo go to take the girl back that night, they hear a violent scuffle between parents who likely haven’t even noticed their daughter is gone. Nobuyo just holds Juri a little tighter and we know they’re not giving her back.The story gradually unfold about how these five people came to live under one roof, and what happens to bring it all crashing down.  Very good.