History Film / Shoplifters

* DiedInHerSleep: Hatsue dies peacefully in her sleep. The police suspect otherwise given Osamu and Nobuyo's criminal past.

** Shota draws attention to himself at a shop when he sees Lin getting into trouble with her clumsy stealing attempt. A ChaseScene ensues which lands Shota in hospital. Later he tells Osamu that he got CaughtOnPurpose which puts a question mark to his decisions at the time.

* TheRunaway: Yuri runs away from his parents' apartment because they abuse her.

-> "Sometimes it's better to choose your own family."

* BecomingTheMask: To keep her abduction a secret, Yuri is renamed Rin, her hair is cut and her clothes are burned.

* AntiVillain: [[spoiler: The police and social services aren't ''wrong'' that Nobuyo and Osamu are kidnappers and criminals who can't give the kids a normal home. But they're also tearing apart a happy family to take Shota and Yuri to their "real", abusive parents.]]

* InterruptedIntimacy: Nobuyo and Osamu have just had sex and are about to go for another round, when Yuri and Shota suddenly come back home and they scramble to get their clothes on.

* TakingTheHeat: Nobuyo takes the blame for the abductions of Shota and Yuri, to protect her accomplice Osamu. Osamu doesn't seem to be charged of anything (not even complicity), which seems consistent with the author's view on the Japanese justice system as seen in the earlier Film/TheThirdMurder.

* ChekhovsGun: Grandma is shown to have a habit of muttering her ATM password out loud. [[Spoiler:This allows the family to raid her bank account after she dies]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Shota will finally be able to live a normal life, but Yuri lives with her abusive parents again.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Shota thinks shoplifting is ok because goods that are yet to be bought don't belong to anyone. He later objects when Osamu plans to steal something that obviously belongs to someone.

* ChekhovsGun: Grandma is shown to have a habit of muttering her ATM password out loud. This allows the family to raid her bank account after she dies.

* FiveFingerDiscount: Shota does shoplifting in order to support his family.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Nobuyo is incapable of bearing children of her own, even though she's always wanted them. She also can't adopt [[spoiler:because she and Osamu are criminals in hiding]]. In contrast, neither of Juri's parents wanted to have her. The unfairness of it all contributes to Nobuyo's decision to abduct Juri instead of returning her.

* LoveableRogue: The whole family commits many crimes, but these are all justified in someway by the narrative- they shoplift because they're poor, they kidnap Yuri [[spoiler: and Shota]] due to abuse by the real parents, Hatsue extorts money from her husband's family because they abandoned her, [[spoiler:they bury Hatsue under the house because doing otherwise would expose their ruse, and in some sense they're more like her real family than her actual one]], etc. The film gives a sensitive and humanizing portrayal to all these characters.

* TheUnfavorite: Implied to be [[spoiler: why Aki left her real parents house to live with Hatsue]], as she was unable to live up to her parents expectations and they showered all their love on her sister and not her. [[spoiler: This is why she pretends to be her sister, taking her name and persona at the strip club where she works.]]

* VillainProtagonist: The protagonists, Osamu and Nobuyo, are AntiVillain.

* FamilyOfChoice: Discussed and quite central, as in the earlier Film/LikeFatherLikeSon.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Nobuyo cannot produce children of her own, even though she's always wanted them. She also can't adopt [[spoiler:because she and Osamu are criminals in hiding]]. In contrast, neither of Juri's parents wanted to have her. The unfairness of it all contributes to Nobuyo's decision to abduct Juri instead of returning her.

Shoplifters is a 2018 Japanese drama film by [[Creator/HirokazuKoreEda Kore-Eda Hirokazu]]. It received several awards including a UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr.

Shota is a kid who helps his uncle Osamu do some shoplifting to support the whole family: Osamu's wife Nobuyo, her sister Aki, and their grandmother Hatsue. They are quite poor. One day they find a little girl named Yuri in the cold, who is obviously abused by [[AbusiveParents her parents]], and they decide to take her home, hide her from her parents and act as her parents.

This film includes many [[TheReveal reveals]], so several tropes would include spoilers. Some of the above description is misleading.

* TheGamblingAddict: Hatsue spends a lot of money in slot machines.

* InterruptedIntimacy: Nobuyo and Osamu had just had sex and were about to go for another round, when Yuri and Shota suddenly come back home and they scramble to get their clothes on.

Shoplifters is a 2018 Japanese drama by [[Creator/HirokazuKoreEda Kore-Eda Hirokazu]]. It received several awards including a UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr.

This film includes many [[TheReveal reveals]], so several tropes would include spoilers. Some of the above description is wrong.

* AbductionIsLove: Osamu and Nobuyo take Yuri home, and hide her from her abusive real parents. Nobuyo acts as a loving mother.

* HookerWithAHeartofGold: Aki works as a stripper, [[spoiler: and has the fewest secrets of any of the characters.]] She also falls for one of her regular customers, seeing him as a fellow BrokenBird, and comforts him.

This film includes many [[TheReveal reveals]], so several tropes would include spoilers. [[spoiler:Some of the above description is wrong]].

** While Osamu and Nobuyo obviously love them, neither Shota or Yuri go to school. [[Spoiler:Presumably they wouldn't be able enroll the kids in school without blowing everyone's cover, since Shota and Yuri would be recognised as missing children and taken away, while Nobuyo and Osamu's crimes would be discovered.]]

* AbductionIsLove: Osamu and Nobuyo take Yuri home, and hide her from her real parents. Nobuyo acts as a loving mother.

** Osamu teaches Shota how to do shoplifting. And everyone in the family knows that.
** While Osamu and Nobuyo obviously love them, neither Shota or Yuri go to school.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Nobuyo cannot produce children of her own, even though she's always wanted them. Conversely, Juri was unwanted by both her parents. The unfairness of it all contributes to Nobuyo's decision to abduct Juri instead of returning her to her parents.

* LoveableRogue: The whole family commits many crimes, but these are all justified in someway by the narrative- they shoplift because they're poor, they kidnap Yuri [[spoiler: and Shota]] due to abuse by the real parents, Hatsue extorts money from her husband's family because they abandoned her, [[spoiler: they bury Hatsue under the house because doing otherwise would expose their ruse, and in some sense they're more like her real family than her actual one]], etc. The film gives a sensitive and humanizing portrayal to all these characters.

* InterruptedIntimacy: Nobuyo and Osamu are having sex, when Yuri and Shota suddenly come back home.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Nobuyo cannot have children.

* MsFanservice: Aki works as a stripper.

* VillainProtagonist: Osamu is a shoplifter, and he even teaches Shota and Yuri to shoplift. Nobuyo steals items at work. [[spoiler:Hatsue blackmails Aki's parents.]] Osamu and Nobuyo bury Hatsue under the house to continue to withdraw her pension. [[spoiler:Osamu and Nobuyo abducted Shota.]]
** [[spoiler:The police told Aki Hatsue was blackmailing her parents, but it's impossible since we saw them lying to her about Aki's whereabouts when she asked, meaning they had no idea she was living with her, so they could not possibly be paying her money to take care of her. Considering the wife's complains about Hatsue visiting them, it seems more like they were giving her money so that she wouldn't come and bother them too often.]]

* LoveableRogue: The whole family commits many crimes, but these are all justified in someway by the narrative- they shoplift because they're poor, they kidnap Yuri [[spoiler: and Shota]] due to abuse by the real parents, Hatsue extorts money from her husband's family because they abandoned her, etc. The film gives a sensitive and humanizing portrayal to all these characters.

* NoEscapeButDown: Shota has to do that.

* HookerWithAHeartofgold: Aki works as a stripper, [[spoiler: and has the fewest secrets of any of the characters.]] She also falls for one of her regular customers, seeing him as a fellow BrokenBird, and comforts him.

** Yuri's real ones.

* HappilyAdopted: Yuri.