The film club dishes on Bong Joon-ho’s latest, and maybe weirdest.
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
From acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho, Okja has stirred almost as much hubbub and mayhem as the titular ‘super-pig’ running wild in Seoul or NYC.
After the acclaimed Korean filmmaker’s English-language debut, Snowpiercer, was manhandled and buried by its North American distributor, you could have understood if ‘Director Bong’ took a step back from such fare, but instead he partnered with Netflix and a star-studded cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, and Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito for a wild and ambitious satire of the meat industry.
Okja kicks off with the CEO of a major corporation (Swinton) announcing that her company has discovered a new strain of ‘super-pig’, and will now host a global contest in which 26 local farmers will receive a super-pig to see who can raise the biggest and best beast.
But no one planned on was for the Korean farmer’s grand-daughter, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), forming an inseparable bond with the pig, named Okja. When Okja is due to be shipped off to NYC, Mija springs into action, action that spins wildly out of control, especially when a group of animal activists (Dano, Yeun) get involved.
Okja’s status as a Netflix film proved incredibly contentious at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, even drawing boos from the audience when the Netflix logo came up (the film still received a standing ovation upon finishing), and there has been hot debate over the film since.
So, being the finger-on-the-pulse group that we are, Two Cents decided to take a ride with Okja and see if this was some pig worth saving, or if maybe the slaughterhouse is the way to go.
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Want to recommend a great (or not so great) film for the whole gang to cover? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
Suspiria remains a truly unique horror experience, as film fans have been reminded by the triple-news of the announcement of an upcoming Blu-ray, the unearthing of an uncut 35mm print, and the film’s sudden availability on Amazon Prime.
Dario Argento’s surreal giallo classic finds Jessica Harper attending a strange ballet academy only to be plunged into a waking nightmare of witches, murder, and Technicolor savagery. We’ve decided to see for ourselves just how well this fever-dream of terror holds up. Join in!
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Our Guest
Monica Vashaw
At first glance, Okja is a tried and tested story of a child and her pet, but like Bong Joon-ho’s works Snowpiercer and Mother, it raises social issues for its viewers to consider.
Weaving its way throughout Okja’s storyline is the philosophical question of the morality of slaughtering and consuming an animal humanlike in its intelligence, logic, and capacity for emotion. Bong peppers in other social commentary on our social media-driven culture and race diffusion across the strata of our society, but at the heart of the film is the theme of human greed.
While Okja employs common techniques of juxtaposing the rural versus the urban and the privileged versus the not, its unique symbolism stems from the casting of Ms. Swinton as twin Mirando scions Lucy and Nancy, vying for control of the company. Representative of the Janus-faced duality of some corporate actors, while one is consumed by presenting a non-threatening, benign image and the other is ruthless in her pursuit of profits, they are, at their core, the same person. And according to Okja, that person, svelte though she may be, can be quite the greedy pig.
The Team
I really wish I loved Okja. After all, I’ve loved Snowpiercer, The Host, Mother, and Memories Of Murder. I’d like to be brought around on Okja, but I found it to be ultimately just an average film. Please convince me otherwise. The vegetarian activism felt on the nose, the lead actress felt flat, and I have no idea what Jake Gyllenhaal was doing. As the proceedings moved along, I did bond with the titular super pig, and grew amazed that for once in his damn life, Paul Dano got to play a person of at least some redeemable character.
The journey is unique, the details of an auteur are there, but I simply never felt transported into this world. I kept feeling like the subtext was less than revelatory, and the comedy jarring at best. Some of the set pieces were suitably bizarre and well crafted!
This isn’t how I wanted to feel about Okja, and I look forward to reading the passionate arguments from others that might convince me to revisit and reevaluate some years from now. After all, Bong Joon-ho’s resume more than begs for me to give it another shot.(@Ed_Travis)
Okja has the rare distinction of being both of one of my favorite films and one of my favorite theatrical experiences of the year — I was lucky enough to catch it at Los Angeles’ New Beverly Cinema, which booked the world’s only 35mm print of the film for a one-week run. Humblebrag aside, there’s something incredibly surreal about seeing the Netflix logo on film.
Okja’s heart is so enormous that the size of the screen barely matters. This tale of a girl and her super-pig is wildly charming, flawlessly deploying an incredible ensemble cast. Jake Gyllenhaal’s totally gonzo performance is deservingly getting a lot of attention, but Steven Yeun, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, and especially newcomer An Seo Hyun are all excellent.
As with Snowpiercer, director Bong Joon Ho pairs a hugely entertaining story with pointed, incisive social commentary. Okja is a miraculous tonal juggling act, handling satire and adventure along with a coming-of-age story and a subtle exploration of loyalty. Somehow, it even manages to cram all of these elements and more into a few show-stopping set pieces. In addition to being Netflix’s best film so far, Okja is one of the most essential films of the year. (Alex Williams)
This is a stellar film, though I wish they could have toned a few things down to get it to around a PG13, as my kids would have loved it too. Instead, it’s that weird type of film with one foot in family film territory and the other firmly planted in the “f-word”.
That said, I loved it and will certainly enjoy all subsequent viewings, as well. Everything about it is well done, with the cast being particularly fantastic. If forced to highlight one key player, the obvious answer is Jake Gyllenhaal.
Gyllenhaal is a pitch perfect villain type. He craves love and attention. He has a fake studio persona with his weasel real self showing through. He’s awkward and self-important, but wholly insecure. And, boy is he a sweaty mess. He’s perfect.
The rest of the cast is strong, as are the actual story and the visual storytelling. It’s hard not to love this movie. (@ThePaintedMan)
Between Ed’s distaste and Justin and Alex’s adoration, I land more or less at a shrug with Okja, and that baffles me. I’ve adored pretty much every Bong film I’ve seen (most especially his entrancing and haunting Memories of Murder, which may actually beat David Fincher’s Zodiac at its own game) and sat down for Okja expecting to be bowled over.
*shrug* I don’t know, man, the balance just feels off this time. With Snowpiercer, the wild tonal shifts and acting choices felt of a piece with the abstract, metaphorical world in which the story took place. Here, Swinton and especially Gyllenhaal are just piling quirk on top of quirk on top of quirk and it gets very old, very quickly. Okja also has a start-stop pacing that is especially odd given how well Bong’s usual films flow. The girl gets separated from the pig, she chases after her, catches her, then gets separated again. Ahn Seo-hyun seems like a strong young performer, but there’s a solid 90 minutes where her role boils down to looking off camera and yelling “Okja!” over and over and over again.
For as frustrating as I found the film, Okja is still loaded with sequences and imagery of breathtaking power, and the conclusion it reaches is a bitter little rejoinder to Snowpiercer’s climax. It’s an interesting ride, but not one I’m especially interested in taking again.
I don’t know what the fuck Gyllenhaal was doing, though. That was…something. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Bong Joon-ho has long captured the attention of discerning movie lovers with his unique filmography across multiple genres, but Okja has erupted seemingly from out of nowhere like some deranged, mutant take on Charlotte’s Web.
Snowpiercer showed us a taste of what it’s like when Hollywood A-listers get on that weird wavelength of Korean mega-acting, but Okja takes it to the next level (and too far?) with Jake Gyllenhaal’s ultra-eccentric goofball villain.
But the film succeeds early with sequences in which superpig Okja not only displays her intelligence and cuddlyness, but saves the life of her young caretaker. You’re already invested by the time it introduces the wacky assemblage of villains and heroes that populate the rest of the story. Inevitably sad but surprisingly uplifting, Okja is a weird one — but definitely one to watch. (@VforVashaw)
Watch it on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80091936
Next week’s pick: