Famed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with Shoplifters, a film that focuses on the humans who slip through the cracks of society and create their own way of living out of necessity. One cramped Tokyo apartment houses a motley family of five – the elderly pachinko-loving matriarch Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), teenage Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) who works in a soft-core peep show, laundress Noboyu (Sakura Andô), and her occasional tradie husband Osamu (Lily Franky) who brings home the bare necessities by ritualistic shoplifting sessions with his son Shota (Kairi Jyo). Their fragile existence is thrown under the spotlight when Osamu and Shota find a small, lost girl who is also in need of a home.

Winner of the big 2018 Cannes Palme d'Or prize, Shoplifters beautifully explores the idea of what constitutes a family with its intricate relationships, low-key moments and, occasionally, fireworks. It's a humanistic masterwork that begs to be seen in a cinema and shared with friends and loved ones.