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The Korean drama “ Broker ” begins like a noir. A young woman walks slowly in the pouring rain in the middle of the night in Busan, her flimsy hood doing little to keep her dry. She looks haunted but determined and soon we see her destination: A church with a collection receptacle labeled “Baby Box.” It’s then, from behind, that we see something squirming under her large, hooded jacket. She doesn’t open it, though. She sets the infant boy gingerly on the ground, wrapping him in his blanket, and walks away.
Thankfully for the kid, two detectives are staking out this particular baby box. One, Soo-jin (Bae Doona), gets out to put the baby in the box. The other, Detective Lee (Lee Joo-young), trails the mysterious woman. They suspect an illegal child trafficking ring is operating out of the church and need to catch the perpetrators in the middle of a sale.
Yet “Broker” is not an edge-of-your-seat crime thriller or maudlin drama. Yes, there are two cops on the tail of several men who have a shadowy business selling orphaned and deserted kids to wealthy owners. Yes, there are shades of a large, powerful crime syndicate looming. And yes, there are abandonment issues aplenty.
But despite all the ingredients for a certain kind of film, writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda had something different in mind.
