A new movie from my numero uno filmmaker, Hirokazu Koreeda? Yes, please! The Shoplifters director only recently-released his first movie outside of his native Japan, The Truth (review here), and now he’s reportedly working on his next project which will team him up with Parasite star Song Kang-ho.
According to Pierce Conran’s Twitter, Koreeda will direct a Korean-language film titled Broker, and it sounds right up his alley. The film will center on the “baby box phenomenon” in Korea, where parents are able to anonymously drop off babies they want put up for adoption. Given Koreeda’s inclination towards family dramas dealing with parents and young children, including on films Like Father Like Son, I Wish, and Our Little Sister, you can see why this holds particular interest to him.
The title suggests the lead character could be someone who mediates these unusual transactions.
Broker will star Song Kang-ho, a Korean superstar best-known here in the States for Parasite, Snowpiercer, and Oldboy. Also in the cast is Bae Doona, of Cloud Atlas and Jupiter Ascending, and Gang Dong–won who can be seen right now in Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula. Bae and Song worked together previously on the 2006 monster flick, The Host.
I’m looking for some definite details from a studio or distributor before getting too excited, because this sounds almost too good to be true.
The film will be about the baby box phenomenon in Korea, a place where parents can leave babies they can't raise anonymously. Bae has worked with Koreeda before, on AIR DOLL, as well as Song on 3 films, including THE HOST. Song and Gang partnered before on SECRET REUNION.
— Pierce Conran (@pierceconran) August 26, 2020
