Well, this was marginally less depressing than most of the Oscar nominees.Shota's (Jyo Kairi) family lives below the poverty line, so he shoplifts with his dad (Lily Franky) to supplement their income. It's treated as a kind of bonding ritual until his family takes in four-year-old Yuri (Miyu Sasaki), essentially kidnapping her from her abusive parents. Shota is initially jealous but after bonding with Yuri, he begins to question the morality of his parents' lifestyle when he is asked to teach her how to shoplift.
This is a great meditation on the meaning of family and the spirit versus the letter of the law. It reminded me a lot of the show Shameless in its depiction of how poverty really is just a vicious downward spiral. The performances are wonderfully natural, especially the mother, Nobuyu (Sakura Andô). She ends up being the bedrock of this film and it would have been much poorer without her. I'm not sure I fully understood the subplot with the grandma (Kirin Kiki) and Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) but it wasn't enough to take me out of the film while I was watching.
It's streaming on Hulu right now and you should give it a look.
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