My brother-in-law told me something I'd already thought about. He suggested I adopt some children quick so I'll have someone to take care of me in old age. This after taking him to the emergency room one morning while my sister was out of town, a few weeks after taking my mother to the emergency room in the middle of the night and taking my mother's elderly cousin to a couple of doctor's appointments. At this stage of life, I'd have to adopt a few teenagers and hope to develop enough of a bond that they won't abandon me even though I'd be of no use at all to them.
Shoplifters is about a dysfunctional impoverished family of sorts. Their actual relationship to one each other becomes murkier as the movie progresses before being cleared up.
The movie begins with them getting a new addition to the family. They find a little girl four- or five-years-old freezing outside on her doorstep. The man and boy take her home. They see signs she's been abused and they make the bizarre decision to simply keep her. It's hard to know what to make of this. Are they deeply moral outsiders or monsters who can't see the obvious problem with this?
The boy already shoplifts with the father, and then the new child joins in.
The movie is a bit long and rather grim. Perhaps akin to movies like Midnight Cowboy or Of Mice and Men or Sister, movies about people who are down and out, who have no one to turn to but each other but are of little help to each other.
Available free on Hulu.
If you want to make it a double feature, watch it with Boy (Japan, 1969) directed by Nagisa Oshima about a family of grifters. A ten-year-old boy lives with his father, step-mother and little half-brother. They make money by pretending to get hit by cars and demanding a cash settlement from the drivers. The step-mother plays the victim, but soon the kid has to take over.
I thought there may have even been a bit of a homage to Boy at one point in Shoplifters.
Boy is available on The Criterion Channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment