Shoplifters

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2:00

Shoplifters

R

2018

2h 1m

Crime

Drama

Adventure

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Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

99%

Tomatometer

228 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders is united by fierce loyalty and a penchant for petty theft. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.

Critics Consensus

Understated yet ultimately deeply affecting, Shoplifters adds another powerful chapter to director Hirokazu Koreeda's richly humanistic filmography.

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Amy Nicholson

FilmWeek (LAist)

09/13/2019

A film that just grows and grows and grows. It seems very quiet, but you are absolutely hooked.

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Shubhra Gupta

The Indian Express

07/11/2019

4/5

[Shoplifters] is a film edged by despair, and yet is life-affirming. Families may disintegrate, but love keeps us ticking over.

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Tom Long

Detroit News

01/04/2019

Writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda fills the film with grace notes, humor and fine observations, circling and filling out each character while leaning more on innocence than corruption.

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Toba Singer

culturevulture.net

02/25/2025

The actors, young or old, transform themselves fully to make what some may regard as their “unexamined lives” worth living, worth recounting, and for observers, worth admiring for their internal fortitude, honesty, and resulting sagacity.

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JD Duran

InSession Film

08/07/2024

Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of my favorite directors working today and he did not disappoint with Shoplifters.

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Calum Cooper

Source (Scotland)

07/14/2024

4/5

You feel like you’re watching the lives of real people as the story grows and sprouts. It makes the smaller moments of bonding, such as a trip to the beach, all the more charming. Yet it also makes the eventual truths all the more shocking.

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Jim P

@RT08384096 Feb 5

There's more to a movie than car chases, shoot-outs and explosions... Try World Cinema: films from other cultures. This one shows Japanese people living "off the grid". Fascinating story.

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Bill P

@BillP62 Jan 28

Dark movie which I found to be not that good. Very contrived and not relatable. Not surprising that critics love this odd movie

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Ray I.

@dogcheese Aug 26

This movie was super heartfelt. I really dug it

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Jun 7

Success in 2 hours and 1 minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated R for Some Sexual Content and Nudity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Dark D

@RT65718715 Jun 6

Beautiful, moving film with a depressing lesson: don't fall in love with the neighbor kid.

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Sam N

@RT61650855 03/21/2025

Typical Kore-eda—slow, calm, and quietly intriguing. Shoplifters gently pulls you into a makeshift family, only to unravel a darker truth beneath the warmth. The twist creeps in, never loud, just unsettling. It makes you wonder: are laws and morality always right? Maybe love’s messier but somehow more honest. Thought-provoking.

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Hirokazu Koreeda

Director

Lily Franky

Shibata Osamu

Sakura Andô

Shibata Nobuyo

Mayu Matsuoka

Shibata Aki

Kirin Kiki

Shibata Hatsue

Jyo Kairi

Shibata Shota

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Shoplifters: Trailer 1

2:00

Shoplifters: International Trailer 1

1:38

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Synopsis

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders is united by fierce loyalty and a penchant for petty theft. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Producer: Kaoru Matsuzaki, Hijiri Taguchi
Screenwriter: Hirokazu Koreeda
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Fuji Television Network Inc., AOI Pro, GAGA
Rating: R (Some Sexual Content and Nudity)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Adventure
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 23, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 12, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.3M
Runtime: 2h 1m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)