Shoplifters reminds me why I enjoy watching stories translated into film. So what's this film about...well nothing out of the ordinary, some may say, but I actually want to rectify this. Shoplifters is simple yet complicated, linear but underneath rocky and last but not least maybe the rawest piece of cinema I have ever watched until now.

Firstly I would like to applaud the effort that was put into the "home space" where the majority of the action takes place. The poverty in which these characters live in clearly showed but at the same time it doesn't lack the warmth feeling you associate with a home - and I think that's what this movie is about. You could say that the atmosphere is general could be described as bleak and grey but pay attention that it never gets "black". I think this happens thanks to the amazingly crafted characters and also because Koreeda payed a great deal of attention (in my humble opinion) to not overly dramatize the story for the sake of it - and it could have been really easy to do so. The "light that lightens the grey" would stand in the little endearing moments that are presented to us through the bond that the characters share: a happy trip to the beach, an out of the blue lovemaking scene with the rain as a background sound, grandma applying ointment on bruises and noticing small changes that no one else paid attention too. Those little moments make you not only understand this "untypical" family but actually feel and root for them.

As Nobuyo (Ando Sakura) said "Does giving birth to a child make one a mother?" so I started asking myself how can things that are considered right and just in "normal situations" become truly unfair and brutal in other cases (like giving back a child to her birth family that abused her, just 'cause they have blood ties).

All in all, there are no heroes or villains in here. Nor there are direct or detailed explanations on how these characters came to meet or what there past is - and that's ok, because day to day people don't go and talk about their past and experiences left and right (another proof of the rawness of this film).

I truly recommend watching this movie. It isn't overrated nor boring and it does what every good movie does in my books, makes you ask some question to your own person.