Okja

Dir: Bong Joon-ho

2017

*****

I’ll be honest, I would love to have seen Okja on the big screen rather than on my modest sized television set. I’m not going to get mixed up in the conversation on the various methods films are released by these days, I think the audience that saw the film at its Cannes Festival premiere said it all when they booed at the sight of Netflix’s logo but gave the film a four minute standing ovation. While I think how you watch a film is important, not just because of how it effects your enjoyment of it but also because it effects the future of cinema, I would argue that the quality of the film is first and foremost the most important part of any production. Joon-Ho Bong has been a favourite director of mine since I watched his mazing 2003 thriller Memories of Murder, his films have just got better and better ever since. Again, I was sad not to watch 2013’s Snowpiercer on the big screen but my goodness how he has developed as a storyteller over the years. As always in his films, there are several stories at play at one time and things are never quite as they may seem initially. The film is packed with nods to actual world events, organisations and social issues, but never directly challenges them. It’s never open to interpretation either, one must engage with the bigger story, as always audience participation will lead to a much more enjoyable experience in my personal opinion. It all starts in 2007’s New York, where Lucy Mirando has declared herself the new CEO of the Mirando Corporation. She succeeds her Grandfather, Father and twin sister, all whom are suggested to be deplorable characters. It seems this is a reinvention of a disliked company with a murky history. Mirando then announces that her company has developed the solution to world hunger and mass farming by breeding a super pig. The Pig is to be unveiled in a decades time, before then the super pig will be farmed by the world’s best twenty-six farmers from around the globe, employing their unique farming methods in a sort of trial to see who gets the best results and which climate suits the animal most. The word solution always instead of the word slaughter and the fact these animals are bred for food is always avoided. Cut ten years into the future and we find young Mija, playing happily with her pet super pig Okja in the mountainous countryside of South Korea. Mija lives with her grandfather, who is renowned as being South Korea’s best farmer and who got the chance to raise one of the baby super pigs ten years previous. After Mija’s parents died, Okja became her only friend and companion and the two have since become inseparable. When the super pig people visit them one day to talk figures, Mija is unphased as she knows that her grandfather bought Okja from the company years before – or so she thought. When the pompous and somewhat bizarre Zoologist and TV personality Johnny Wilcox turns up and declares Okja the winner of the super pig contest things take a turn for the worst for the bond between girl and pig. From there on in, the movie is a madcap adventure of espionage, animal rights activism and pure comedy, as well as some of the most upsetting scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. From early on in the movie, it is clear that Okja is an intelligent and caring animal and much more than a meal. While Okja is larger than most animals bred for consumption, it doesn’t look that alien in comparison. This is intentional. The fact is that many of the animals we eat are intelligent and caring, we eat them anyway. I’ve seen many food documentaries regarding ethics, vegetarianism, health benefits and hidden wrong-doing within the food production companies but never before has a film really made me consider vegetarianism. There is an argument to be have about the nature of the food chain etc but mass farming just isn’t natural and it certainly isn’t nice. It’s easy to see Okja as a fictional being, it does make the film that little more digestible (I’m so sorry) and more appealing but there is a frighteningly large amount of truth behind the comical chaos on screen. Certain scenes towards the end of the movie are incredibly upsetting and are of powerful but beautiful contrast to the rest of the film, done in a way only Joon-Ho Bong seems able to achieve, and is fast becoming his signature. Much like Snowpiercer, the cast is wonderfully eclectic. Young Ahn Seo-hyun carries the film brilliantly as Mija, she handles the mix of languages perfectly (not knowning how to speak English) and is totally convincing when interacting with Okja who is largely CGI. Tilda Swinton is wonderful as the eccentric Lucy Mirando and also plays her twin, for the second time in her career. Paul Dano is surprisingly suited as the leader of ALF – the Animal Liberation Front and Jake Gyllenhaal clearly relishes the opportunity of playing the crazed zoologist and TV personality Johnny Wilcox. It was nice to see Byun Hee-bong work with the director again after appearing in Memories of Murder and 2006’s The Host and Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yoon Je-Moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Choi Woo-shik and Giancarlo Esposito make for quite a lively supporting cast. Okja doesn’t work on paper at all and the tone of the film is all over the place but this is a Joon-Ho Bong and all you need to know is that usual rules don’t apply and it’s going to be awesome. I loved every second.