Okja (15.)
Directed by Joon-ho Bong.
Starring An Seo Hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Shirley Henderson, Paul Dano and Giancarlo Esposito. In English and subtitled. Limited cinema release, available on Netflix from June 28th. 121 mins.
International co-operation, hands reaching out over the oceans, nation speaking unto nation, is all very well, but generally such operations result in the production of finely crafted, no expense spared, pig's ears. In the old days we used to get Euro-puddings, unhappy collaborations from different corners of the common market; now we have transcontinental streamed puddings. Okja is a Netflix production of a film by Korea's second most prestigious director (the one that didn't direct Oldboy, but did do The Host), of a script written with Jon Ronson. There's a high quality international cast, many of whom are giving performances that seem brave and interesting for approximately the first minute, before revealing themselves to be utterly cringeworthy*, in support of a teenage Korean girl and a giant CGI Super pig.
Okja is ET mixed with The Animals Film, the documentary featuring explicit footage of humanity mistreating animals. Her grandfather is one of 14 farmers worldwide who have been given possession of a new breed of superpig to rear. The pigs are GM but the company is trying to pass them off as organic, which is why they are being raised on farms for a decade. Young Mija (Hyun) has grown rather fond of the pig and can't accept it when the time comes for it to be taken to where all the farmyard piggies must go.
It's a very odd creation: lots of clumsy and obvious satirical jibes, laid over a Roald Dahl style adventure. Netflix are supposed to be this cutting edge content provider but they behave like wide eyed rubes when ever any big name talent comes to them with a project nobody else will back. Which is how they ended up laying out $50 million on an expletive filled children film; a venture designed to satisfy nobody.
The intention is to make viewers swear off meat forever, but the argument is skewered. Mija (Hyun) is attached to her pig because early on its saves her life, and saves her life in a way that shows enormous bravery and a piece of superhuman high speed problem solving that Indiana Jones would have been counted as one of his more inspired stunts. The film makes a very strong case about the morality of mass consumption factory farming, but that seems to me an argument against free market capitalism rather than the ethics of eating meat. One character says people will eat anything if it's cheap, and I must admit that is pretty much how I live my life. Unlike all you intolerance festering wimps, I have the digestive system of an undiscerning cement mixer: bring on all your additives and GMod muck, I can take 'em.
* Mr Gyllenhaal's ship is the fastest to sink here, but Swinton makes a chase of it. Even the ones who aren't spectacularly awful are a bit off in the way a performer often is when the director isn't a native speaker. Hats off though Esposito who is restrained and unruffled and moves calmly through the eye of the storm with his composure in tact.
Directed by Joon-ho Bong.
Starring An Seo Hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Shirley Henderson, Paul Dano and Giancarlo Esposito. In English and subtitled. Limited cinema release, available on Netflix from June 28th. 121 mins.
International co-operation, hands reaching out over the oceans, nation speaking unto nation, is all very well, but generally such operations result in the production of finely crafted, no expense spared, pig's ears. In the old days we used to get Euro-puddings, unhappy collaborations from different corners of the common market; now we have transcontinental streamed puddings. Okja is a Netflix production of a film by Korea's second most prestigious director (the one that didn't direct Oldboy, but did do The Host), of a script written with Jon Ronson. There's a high quality international cast, many of whom are giving performances that seem brave and interesting for approximately the first minute, before revealing themselves to be utterly cringeworthy*, in support of a teenage Korean girl and a giant CGI Super pig.
Okja is ET mixed with The Animals Film, the documentary featuring explicit footage of humanity mistreating animals. Her grandfather is one of 14 farmers worldwide who have been given possession of a new breed of superpig to rear. The pigs are GM but the company is trying to pass them off as organic, which is why they are being raised on farms for a decade. Young Mija (Hyun) has grown rather fond of the pig and can't accept it when the time comes for it to be taken to where all the farmyard piggies must go.
It's a very odd creation: lots of clumsy and obvious satirical jibes, laid over a Roald Dahl style adventure. Netflix are supposed to be this cutting edge content provider but they behave like wide eyed rubes when ever any big name talent comes to them with a project nobody else will back. Which is how they ended up laying out $50 million on an expletive filled children film; a venture designed to satisfy nobody.
The intention is to make viewers swear off meat forever, but the argument is skewered. Mija (Hyun) is attached to her pig because early on its saves her life, and saves her life in a way that shows enormous bravery and a piece of superhuman high speed problem solving that Indiana Jones would have been counted as one of his more inspired stunts. The film makes a very strong case about the morality of mass consumption factory farming, but that seems to me an argument against free market capitalism rather than the ethics of eating meat. One character says people will eat anything if it's cheap, and I must admit that is pretty much how I live my life. Unlike all you intolerance festering wimps, I have the digestive system of an undiscerning cement mixer: bring on all your additives and GMod muck, I can take 'em.
* Mr Gyllenhaal's ship is the fastest to sink here, but Swinton makes a chase of it. Even the ones who aren't spectacularly awful are a bit off in the way a performer often is when the director isn't a native speaker. Hats off though Esposito who is restrained and unruffled and moves calmly through the eye of the storm with his composure in tact.
