Yahoo News Okja film review: Netflix funded offering is a game-changer
My great aunt, who grew up on a farm in Kerry, had a pig called Rasher and, apparently, she used to kiss his eyelashes. When it was time for him to be killed (the clue’s in the name) he ran away and my great aunt was used by her parents to coax him back. Big fat pigs are doomed. Everyone knows this. Yet after watching Bong Joon Ho’s controversial sci-fi epic, entirely funded by Netflix, you might feel differently.
Technically, the film’s heroine is a “super-pig”. Raised in the South Korean countryside as part of an experiment into genetically modified breeds, 10-year-old Okja is huge. Her eyes, though, are definitely piggy.
Disney’s Bambi, with his bulbous orbs, set the mould for cute cinematic critters (ET, Totoro, Sully, Hiccup, Baymax, Minions and even the piglet, Babe — they all have XL eyes). Okja flouts the rule but what her amber CGI peepers lack in size they make up for in depth.
Surrounded by weary folds of flesh, they’re pools of intelligence which we happily dive in to in numerous close-ups. Whether gallumphing through the forest or paddling her feet in the air while snoozing.
That her constant companion is a kind, 14-year-old girl, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), would suggest this is a children’s film. But that cap doesn’t quite fit. The script was put together by cult South Korean director Bong, with help from British journalist Jon Ronson. Both Bong and Ronson are famous for using wonky wit to attack capitalism and/or metropolitan pseuds. This film trips us up many times. Mendacious CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton, exuberantly brittle), unstable TV host Dr Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a group of non-violent animal liberationists led by Jay (Paul Dano) all seek to separate Okja from Mija. The members of the Animal Liberation Front know that Lucy is out to exploit Okja but their own agenda puts Okja in harms way.
The pig goes to hell and back. Brilliantly shot by cinematographer Darius Khondji, the scenes inside a meat factory and what can only be described as a pig concentration camp are so murkily intense they make Se7en look like an episode of Teletubbies. The ALF youngsters take a beating, too. For every slick and/or whimsical moment, there’s a bruising, nay, pulverising, one.
'Brilliantly shot by cinematographer Darius Khondji, the scenes inside a meat factory and what can only be described as a pig concentration camp are so murkily intense they make Se7en look like an episode of Teletubbies'
Gyllenhaal’s OTT performance can be hard to stomach. He’s known for hardcore commitment (see Nightcrawler) but here he’s revved up in an altogether different way. At one point he squeals with glee like a demented cross between Miss Piggy and Kermit. That scene actually works. We have a sense of a man who’s been faking effervescent lunacy for so long he can no longer “do” sane.
Dano’s performance is more grounded — icily unpredictable and warmly serene, all in the blink of a droopy eye. Don’t leave before the credits end, by the way — he has a few more surprises up his sleeve. Other curveballs include a tense truck chase worthy of The Wages of Fear and lots of swearing.
Put these elements together and what you have is a thriller with the power to grip children, adults, Koreans, Westerners, carnivores, vegans, blockbuster addicts and art house connoisseurs.
Bong’s script was turned down by all the major studios. He could have made it on the cheap but the end product wouldn’t have been half as good. Netflix offered him a proper budget ($50 million) and respect (Bong had final cut).
Many film-makers and critics see the streaming service as a threat. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival Pedro Almodóvar declared that he would die fighting for “the hypnosis of the large screen for the viewer”. What a twit. For one thing, lots of people have big TV screens these days. For another, why get hung up on inches? Surely it’s better that lots of people see a clever movie on a smallish screen than a few see it on a huge one? No British children under 15 can watch Okja in the cinema but they’ll be free to watch it at home.Given the company’s track record, that’s cause for celebration.
Actually, in the UK, audiences have a choice (from Wednesday Okja will be showing at Curzon cinemas). It’s worth getting off your butt for but, either way, Bong’s slick and slippery offering is a game-changer. Call it Netflix’s first great film. Call it, simply, great.
The fact that it’s getting so much attention is good news for film-lovers and food-lovers (and pigs). In Okja a billionaire says, “If it’s cheap, people will eat it.” The rich know a lot, but maybe we’ve got better taste than they think.
Cert 15, 118 mins
