Japanese movie ‘Shoplifters’ wins Palme d'Or in Cannes

The Palme d'Or of the 71st Cannes Film Festival has been awarded to “Shoplifters” by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda. At the Lumière Theater in Cannes, France on Saturday (local time), jury president Cate Blanchett said the last scene in “Shoplifters” was so touching that she almost forgot that it was a movie.

As director, Kore-eda has been loved by some Korean movie maniacs for his movies about human stories particularly the meaning of families projected through his warm-hearted viewpoint. It is the second time that Kore-eda has won a prize at Cannes after acquiring the jury prize for his work “Like Farther, Like Son” in 2013. Earlier, actor Yuya Yagira received the best actor award with the move “Nobody Knows” (2004) directed by Kore-eda. “Shoplifters” is a story about happenings in a family, in which the family making living on the grandmother’s pension and through shoplifting accepts as a new member a five-year-old girl who gets spotted in front of their home.


Min Kim kimmin@donga.com