Broker: Kore-eda Hirokazu’s gentle touch allows this drama to navigate through some thorny issues without losing a beat or any amount of its immense humanity. Perhaps a bit too optimistic with its characters, since the whole gallery of protagonists is deeply engaging and easy to connect with, however flawed they may be. After all, the film tells the story of child traffickers and a mother who abandoned her baby, following their journey to find a buyer for the infant. The performances are all beautiful, subtle, and quiet but nevertheless very effective: Song Kang-ho, as the eldest of the characters, is a melancholically sweet presence; Lee Ji-eun, as the tough-as-nails young mother decided to take a seemingly impossible decision, is also quite good, as is Gang Dong-won, the other trafficker, a young man who understands better than anyone the situation. Bae Doona also has a strong presence as one of the cops following the situation. Kore-eda himself edited the film, giving it a pleasurable, unhurried pace. Composer Jung Jae-il’s musical score touches all the appropriate emotional chords.