In SHOPLIFTERS, Kore-eda shows himself to be not only a master of family storytelling but also deeply sensitive in depicting even the most unlikely of chosen families. A family of shoplifters and petty thieves ekes out an existence in a neglected corner of Tokyo. United by loyalty and shared experience if not all entirely by blood, these rebellious malcontents face a reckoning when one of their number is arrested forcing ‘family’ secrets into the light.