Shoplifters — A Day at the Beach — Micheladas
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Now Showing: Shoplifters (2018)
The world of director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s masterful neo-realist film Shoplifters is filled with mysteries hiding in plain sight. The film revolves around a family—although even calling them that proves complicated—that absconds with a child after finding her abandoned outside on a cold night by her abusive parents. Whether this is kidnapping or a rescue is an open question that the filmmaker assiduously avoids answering. The family is amorphous and inhabits a two-room home belonging to Granny (played by Kirin Kiki), an old woman who always seems to have just enough money, although its origins are hard to place. Likewise, it is difficult to pin down how the people in the family are related to one another.
As the nature of their relationships and the origin of the family unit itself are revealed, the mysteries multiply. They subsist on Granny’s pension, and mysterious envelopes of money that she procures, but they also live in poverty. Much of the family’s income derives from shoplifting at stores around Tokyo. The petty theft is carried out by the Osamu (played by Lily Franky), the putative father in the family, and his son, Shota (Jyo Kairi). The other family members include Nobuyo, the mother figure (Sakura Andô), and a younger woman, Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), who uses her unseen sister’s name when performing at a peep show for disaffected and depressed men living on the edge in Tokyo.
If this all seems a little confusing, that’s part of the point. The family in Shoplifters doesn’t fit into tidy conceptions of the nuclear family, just as the arrival of the young girl Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) is both a crime and a blessing. The family is sweet, but it’s hard to pin down at any moment whether their crimes are merely the result of poverty or something more sinister. Kore-eda uses this dynamic to incredible effect, slowly ratcheting up the tension while simultaneously complicating our opinions of the characters. As one would expect from a story that begins with stealing a child from her parents, things eventually get out of control when one of the family members dies and another is caught by the police.
Yet the arrival of Japan’s notoriously unforgiving criminal justice system is not the end of the film. Instead, it sets up a painfully sad yet utterly perplexing denouement, carefully examining the meanings of family, fatherhood and crime. Kore-eda’s careful framing tells the story in a simple, straightforward way and uses ordinary locations and regular people to create moving paintings filled with subtle beauty. The particular genius of the cinematography is that it avoids emotional manipulation, leaving the audience to sit with the story and sort it out for themselves.
Shoplifters is a tremendous film, and it won Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018 and was nominated for best foreign film in both the 2019 Golden Globes and Oscars. In most years, it probably would have won those awards too, but it had the misfortune of being pitted against Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Nevertheless, now may be the perfect time to watch Shoplifters. It tackles hardship and poverty—and the odd ties that bind people together when the live in a small space—with delicate grace. And an extended sequence at the beach will put you in the mood to rinse off your own troubles in the waves.
The beaches are open… here’s why you should go.
The coronavirus pandemic rolls on. While New York and New Jersey seem to be through the worst of it—for now—states around the nation are starting to experience the full brunt of the virus for the first time. It’s hard to think about relaxing when hospitals are overflowing and public health has become a political football. Yet these are all reasons why relaxation is more important now than ever (yes, I realize that sounds like a Hyundai commercial).
It turns out that the pandemic is more like a marathon than a sprint, and surviving means pacing yourself, staying hydrated, and not stressing out about when the end will come. But that’s all hard to do. That’s why you should take a vacation from your problems. Sure, a jaunt around Europe is out of the question right now, but put the sprinkler on the in the back yard, go “forest bathe,” if that’s your jam, or do what I’m doing this afternoon and take a drive to the beach.
Get some sun and some fresh air (with all the caveats about mask use and social distancing). Go for a swim in the Atlantic. Get a hardbody (a double cheeseburger with special sauce) from Rippers at Beach and 96th Street in the Rockaways. Put on some Jimmy Buffett. Do whatever it takes to take a break, just for this weekend. You won’t regret it, and you’ll feel refreshed for the next leg of the race.
Care for a drink?
One of my favorite beach beverages is a Latin American classic, the Michelada. Think of it like a beer combined with a bloody mary, but with some extra zip. They’re light, refreshing, and a nice break from frozen cocktails or IPAs.
To make a Michelada, start by rubbing the rim of a pint glass with a slice of lime, then rolling it in a chili-salt mixture, as you would when making a margarita.
Then combine the following in a bowl or measuring glass:
2 oz. tomato juice
1–1.5 oz. lime juice
0.5 oz. hot sauce (I like Cholula for this)
A couple of shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, to taste.
0.5 teaspoons Tajin Clasico or another chili powder.
Chuck some ice in the pint glass, pour in the tomato juice mixture, and then pour in a Mexican beer—Corona or Modelo are best—and give it a gentle stir. Enjoy!
Reading List:
City of Thieves is a short, non-stop thriller novel which follows two Russian soldiers in search of a dozen eggs during the siege of Leningrad. Written by David Benioff, now best known as one of the Game of Thrones showrunners, the book is the perfect beach read, despite the chilly setting. (Hat tip to reader Ali Smith.) Available on Barnes & Noble.
I’ve talked several times about Hayao Miyazaki films in this newsletter, and recommended Steele Filipek’s excellent course on his films a few weeks back. All of Studio Ghibli’s films are now available on HBO Max, and The Times has a good article for those new to the oeuvre.
The Magic School Bus author Joanna Cole passed away earlier this week. Ms. Frizzle and her transmogrifying bus were a staple on PBS for millions of kids in the 1990s, and the theme song to the show is still burned into my brain. NPR has a nice obit.