Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s “Baby Broker” – The Awesome Effect of Directing Without Deciding on the Last Act

Baby Broker” is a film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda with the best actors and production staff in the Korean film industry. The film has already been highly anticipated before its release, with Song Gang-ho winning the Best Actor Award and the Ecumenical Jury Prize for “a film that richly depicts the inner life of a human being” at the Cannes International Film Festival.

The film is a road movie about a baby stolen from a “baby post” and the baby’s mother who sets out on a journey to find the baby’s adoptive parents. The film is a road movie in which a group of baby prowlers, whose goal was to sell the baby for a high price, begin to think about how to make the baby happy, and the female detective who is after them to catch them red-handed on human trafficking charges also awakens to motherhood through their journey with the baby. These two themes are depicted simultaneously in this film.

The female detective who initially said, “Don’t have a baby if you’re going to throw it away,” awakens to motherhood and undergoes a dramatic change in her life. The cathartic moment when a baby is convinced that it was a good thing that he or she was born is irreplaceable.

At the Cannes International Film Festival, Kore-eda also revealed an unexpected secret about his film.

When asked about the relationship between his film “And Then I Became a Father” and “Shoplifters”, Kore-eda replied that when “And Then I Became a Father” was released, “I had to climb the stairs.

When asked about the relationship between “And Then I Became a Father” and “Shoplifting Family,” Kore-eda stated, “To become a father, you have to climb some stairs.

He responded, “I am a father, but I have to climb some stairs to become a father. In response, he said

“A woman who gives birth to a child does not immediately become a mother.

He confessed that he had received criticism for this comment. Based on his reflection at that time, he came to realize that the “woman who does not give birth but tries to become a mother” (Sakura Ando) portrayed in “Shoplifters” and the “woman who gives up on becoming a mother for various reasons” (Lee Ji-woon) portrayed in “Baby Broker” were born. ” (Lee Jee-woong) was born, he said.

But that is not the only reason why the film “Baby Broker” has captured our hearts and minds. The thrilling documentary-style tension created by the film’s “no ending” approach, which is rarely seen in other films, keeps the viewer enthralled until the very end.

The film was shot over a period of two and a half months, starting in Busan and ending in Seoul, as the story unfolds. However, Kore-eda cranked the film without deciding what to do with the story once it reached Seoul, which is one-third of the way through the second half.

He rewrote the story many times during filming, showing it each time to lead actor Song Gang-ho and Bae Doona, who plays the detective, and exchanging opinions. When filming was about two-thirds complete, a final draft was finally submitted.

(A producer from a production company) “Although the story is a fictional one, it has the reality of a documentary. Is this the quintessence of Kore-eda Hirokazu, who started his career in documentary TV?

The cast includes Song Gang-ho, who starred in the film “Parasite Family: Life Under the Half-Land”; Kang Dong-won, known for his role in the film “Master”; Bae Doona, who won the Japan Academy Award for Outstanding Leading Actress for Kore-eda’s film “Air Doll”; Lee Ju-young, who left a strong impact in “Itaewon Class Lee Joo-young, who made a strong impact in “Itaewon Class,” and Lee Ji-eun, known as a “national diva,” are just a few of the actors who make up the ensemble.

However, Kore-eda is not the only director who spins a story without deciding on an ending.

Director Lee Sang-il, who directed the film “Moon in the Stream” starring Suzu Hirose and Momori Matsuzaka, spins the story from the beginning without deciding on an outline in advance. In other words, he decides what scene will come next based on what happens in the scene he is writing.

However, this style is like digging a tunnel that progresses millimeter by millimeter. When the digging continues and you hit bedrock, you keep digging, and if it doesn’t work, you stand in front of another wall and start digging again from scratch. Even director Lee, who is writing the film, does not know when he will reach the final scene or what he will see there. Perhaps it was because of this groping that, in a sense, a masterpiece that surpasses the original work was born” (aforementioned production company producer).

Yuji Sakamoto, who is currently writing the script for the drama series “Hatsukoi no Devil” (NTV), is also known for his unique writing style.

Sakamoto does not even create a plot, let alone a final scene. Instead, he creates a detailed resume of the characters and begins writing from the very beginning, relying on that resume. The development of the story is completely unpredictable. Kankuro Kudo, who appears in the drama “Quartet” (TBS), for which Sakamoto wrote the script, could not hide his surprise at this writing method,” said a director of a production company.

Unlike Sakamoto’s method, Daisuke Habara, who is currently working on the morning drama “Chimu Dodotsu” (NHK), has started to write a script after having properly created a plot for all the episodes.

In the case of “Chimu Dodon,” Habara creates a plot up to the last week of the drama and uses it as a foundation for the development of the story and dialogue from the first week, and the three of them, including the production manager and chief director, go through a trial-and-error process of writing, rewriting, and rewriting. I think this is a common pattern for serial dramas, not just “morning dramas.

Because this is not the usual pattern, the drama does not follow a planned harmony, but is full of individuality and originality. The tingling excitement in “Baby Broker” may be the result of such craftsmanship.