Shoplifters

“At once charming and heart-wrenching, this exquisitely performed film will steal the hearts of both art-house and mainstream audiences.” — Maggie Lee, Variety

“Every one of master Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda's movies breaks your heart in a different way.” — Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

This screening is a staff pick by show lead Leo Leon.

"I selected Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters because of the warmth and instant nostalgia that I felt watching something so recent and intimate in impoverished and heavy situations. Kore-eda has a way with bearing emotional weight through visual representation and faint innuendos without there ever being too much dialogue. Shoplifters often teeters a line of a film with curated experiences, yet so naturalistic that it can feel like there isn't a story at all compared to collages of real lives playing out on screen. It is the story of a chosen family living in the outskirts of Tokyo in a small cluttered household. With thoughtful cinematography, deliberately slow pacing, masterful scene selection to portray familial love through rich and plentiful characterization, and one of the best and most seamless tonal shifts I've experienced, it leaves a thought-provoking experience in the best way possible."

After Hours is the best films you never saw on the big screen (or maybe you did) from late-night cult classics to foreign favorites and even summer blockbusters on weekends. Please note that unclaimed pre-ordered tickets will be sold to the rush line 30 mins after showtime.

Check out the rest of our After Hours program!