# Shoplifters (万引き家族) (film)
**Shoplifters** (万引き家族, *Manbiki Kazoku*, literal title "Shoplifting Family") is a 2018 Japanese drama film directed, written, and edited by [Hirokazu Kore-eda](https://www.edgepedia.org/hirokazu-kore-eda), about an impoverished, unrelated household on the margins of Tokyo that survives on shoplifting, odd jobs, and the grandmother's pension, and takes in an abused young girl.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) • [2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/) It won the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at the 71st Cannes Film Festival, the first Palme d'Or for a Japanese film in 21 years, and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/) • [2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 万引き家族 (*Manbiki Kazoku*), literal English title "Shoplifting Family"[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) |
| Director, writer, editor | Hirokazu Kore-eda[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) |
| Top prize | Palme d'Or, 71st Cannes Film Festival (2018); first Japanese Palme since Shohei Imamura's *The Eel* in 1997[2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/) • [3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/) |
| Other honors | Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign Language Film; César for Best Foreign Film; 8 Japan Academy Prize wins including Best Film[2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/) • [3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/) |
| Principal cast | Lily Franky (Osamu), Sakura Ando (Nobuyo), Mayu Matsuoka (Aki), Kirin Kiki (Hatsue), Jyo Kairi (Shota), Miyu Sasaki (Yuri)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters) |
| Release | Japan June 8, 2018; Cannes premiere May 13, 2018; US limited release November 23, 2018 (Magnolia Pictures)[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters) |
| Reception | 99% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (227 reviews); Metascore 93 from 40 critic reviews; US gross $3.3 million[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shoplifters/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Osamu (Lily Franky) works as a day laborer, and he and his son Shota (Jyo Kairi) shoplift together.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) Returning from one of these sessions, Osamu finds a young girl, Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), freezing outside in the cold and takes her home.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shoplifters/) His wife Nobuyo (Sakura Ando) is at first angry but, after seeing the burns and bruises on the girl's body and hearing her parents quarreling, decides to raise her as a daughter.[6](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/about.html) The household also includes Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), the granddaughter of Hatsue's deceased former husband from his subsequent marriage, who works at a peep-show-style shop, and the elderly Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), who owns the small house and whose pension is the family's fixed income.[6](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/about.html) • [7](https://chlotrudis.org/review/shoplifters/)
The family lives happily despite poverty, but when Shota is arrested after an incident during a shoplifting run, the household is pulled apart and its secrets, including the fraudulent collection of the pension of a dead relative, come to light.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters) • [8](https://cinemaanthology.com/japanese/films/shoplifters/)
## Production and origins
Kore-eda has said the film began with the tagline "Only the crimes tied us together," and that a news report of a family fraudulently collecting a dead relative's pension, reduced in the coverage to a single line about an unpaid fishing rod, caught his attention.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/25/shoplifters-hirokazu-kore-eda-family-in-a-pinch) • [10](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/news/) He described the film as an inquiry into whether a family bound by crime rather than blood can exist, and a return to the wider social concerns of his 2004 film *Nobody Knows*.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/25/shoplifters-hirokazu-kore-eda-family-in-a-pinch) • [10](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/news/)
The crew paired Kore-eda with two first-time collaborators: cinematographer Ryūto Kondō, who shot the story's progression from winter to winter, and composer [Haruomi Hosono](https://www.edgepedia.org/haruomi-hosono), whose score was described by the production as gentle and restrained.[6](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/about.html) • [2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/) Jyo Kairi and Miyu Sasaki were chosen by audition for the children's roles.[6](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/about.html)
## Reception and awards
The film premiered in competition at Cannes on May 13, 2018, and the jury chaired by [Cate Blanchett](https://www.edgepedia.org/cate-blanchett) awarded it the Palme d'Or.[1](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters) • [11](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/01/17/hirokazu-kore-eda-found-families/) This was the first Palme d'Or for a Japanese film since Shohei Imamura's *[The Eel](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-eel)* in 1997, a 21-year gap.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/) It went on to an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, the first for a Japanese film in ten years, along with Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and a César Award for Best Foreign Film.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/) • [2](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/) At the 42nd Japan Academy Prizes it won eight categories including Best Film.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/)
Critical response was strongly positive. Rotten Tomatoes recorded 99% from 227 reviews, with a critics consensus calling the film understated yet deeply affecting, and Metacritic recorded a score of 93 from 40 reviews, in its "universal acclaim" range.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shoplifters/) Reviewers singled out the ensemble acting and Kore-eda's control of tone; Manohla Dargis of *The New York Times* wrote that in the characters' grubby imperfections Kore-eda finds a story about being human.[12](https://thecritics.uk/film/shoplifters) The film grossed $3.3 million in the United States through Magnolia Pictures.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters)
## Themes
The film's central question is what makes a family: the group shares no blood ties and is held together by crime, poverty, and mutual care.[10](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/news/) • [7](https://chlotrudis.org/review/shoplifters/) Critics noted that it resists romanticizing its characters while keeping its compassion, and that its final act reveals pasts that reframe the tenderness of the earlier scenes.[12](https://thecritics.uk/film/shoplifters) • [13](https://mubi.com/en/films/shoplifters/critics-reviews) Overseas coverage also focused on the poverty in Japan that the film puts on screen.[14](https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c03012/)
## References
1. [Shoplifters, AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/Shoplifters)
2. [SHOPLIFTERS | GAGA Corporation](https://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/shoplifters/)
3. [万引き家族, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/88449/)
4. [Shoplifters, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoplifters)
5. [Shoplifters Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shoplifters/)
6. [ABOUT THE MOVIE｜『万引き家族』公式サイト](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/about.html)
7. [Shoplifters, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film](https://chlotrudis.org/review/shoplifters/)
8. [Shoplifters, Cinema Anthology](https://cinemaanthology.com/japanese/films/shoplifters/)
9. [Shoplifters review – tenderness in the bleakest of circumstances, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/25/shoplifters-hirokazu-kore-eda-family-in-a-pinch)
10. [是枝裕和監督 最新作『万引き家族』公式サイト](https://gaga.ne.jp/manbiki-kazoku/news/)
11. [Found Families, Phillip Lopate, The New York Review of Books](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/01/17/hirokazu-kore-eda-found-families/)
12. [Shoplifters (2018): 36 reviews, The Critics](https://thecritics.uk/film/shoplifters)
13. [Shoplifters critics reviews, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/films/shoplifters/critics-reviews)
14. ["Shoplifters": A Family Tied by Crime and Money, Nippon.com](https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c03012/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2010 to 2014*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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