Okja (2017)
Ted Hentschke
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Directed by Bong Joon-Ho
Starring Ahn Seo-Hyun, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, and Jake Gyllenhaal
Streaming Only on Netflix
SPOILER ALERT:
Well what do you know! I can now cross CGI animal rape off of the list of things I never thought I would see. Now I can die just slightly less happy than I was yesterday.
Woah Ted, spoiler tag! I like to be pleasantly surprised by my horrible animated sexual assaults. In honesty, I’m being a unfair to Okja. The rape isn’t even that big of a part of the movie, and it happens mostly off screen while the cast comments on how wrong it is. It’s also not even the most horrifying or heartbreaking thing that happens in the movie.
It’s a hell of a way to start a review about Okja, essentially an adult version of a Pixar film. But having just watched it, it’s where my heads at. Okja is a movie as brilliant as it is diverse. Director Bong Joon-Ho springs from heartwarming story of friendship between man and beast, dark social comedy, slapstick antics, and biting satire like an elegant gazelle being chased by rape-monsters.
The film opens with a wonderfully colorful Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) holding a press conference. Having recently taken the company over from her evil sister Nancy (also played by Swinton) and psychotic dead father, she vows to make the Mirando Corporation a global force for good. In order to solve the growing hunger crisis, Mirando has discovered a new race of “superpigs.” In a global effort to breed the best new livestock of the future, Mirando sends 26 of these adorable piglets across the globe in a contest to see who can raise the biggest and best. She ends with the line, “…and they better be fucking delicious!”
Cut to ten years later, and we meet the young girl Mija (Ahn Seo-Hyun) and her now fully grown superpig, Okja. For about twenty minutes, we’re treated to this dynamic duo going about their daily lives in the beautiful mountainside of rural Korea. They eat apples, swim around, and poop. Take note of that. Every time Mija rubs Okja’s butt, she projectile shits everywhere. Adorable.
The plot takes some pretty predictable turns for the most part. Mirando Corp comes to check on their investment, declare Okja the biggest and best, and take her away for their great superpig unveiling. Mija understandably just wants her best friend back. She scrounges up all of her money for a trip to Seoul, and actually manages to save her with the help of the Animal Liberation Front. Turns out the ALF has other plans for Okja.
That’s all I’m going to spoil, even though it’s pretty predictable. I will say that this is the bright line where the movie goes from being a heartwarming adventure comedy to dark and depressing. There are still some funny moments, but the sense of whimsey is now gone. If you’re watching with your significant other, now is the time to break out the tissue box.
The easy bright spots of Okja come from the colorful cast of characters. The titular Okja is a marvel of CG creation, bouncing around like a hippopotamus filled with silly putty. She’s undeniably adorable, which makes her confinement and mistreatment all the more tragic. Jake Gyllenhaal as the drunk and eccentric Dr. Wilcox is phenomenal, once again proving that he’s on a lifelong quest to prove he can play literally any character ever. Paul Dano steals scenes with his now signature simmering rage beneath a facade of placidity. Swinton is good, but isn’t she always? The juxtaposition of the comically zealous ALF minor characters with the callous and insincere Morando Corp was a hoot. The only character I didn’t really feel was Mija. I guess I’m expecting a lot asking a 13-year-old to really wow me. She’s better than most child actors, but that’s not saying much.
The big problem is that Okja just doesn’t know what to do with its embarrassment of riches. We’re not given enough time with characters like Jay, Lucy/Nancy, or Dr. Wilcox to really get a sense of their nuance. It leads to some pretty inconsistent characterization. When Wilcox first lays eyes on Okja, he’s driven almost to tears by her. Just a few days later, he’s torturing her in a lab? His explanation for the switch is straight out of the notebook of a first year psychology student. Lucy goes through similar swings, whipping from sweet and sensitive to stern business woman mid-scene. Now these are all dimensions to the character that I could understand given a bit more context, but the snippets we get just aren’t enough to flesh out why these characters have such stark shifts.
The plot also has some holes, but it’s in service to ramping the tension. Why exactly does Nancy swoop in at the 11th hour to just evil it up a bit more? Because it was fun. Why does the corporation decide to ignore the previous plan and start immediately slaughtering all of the super pigs? That’s not how livestock works! Well, it adds a pressing deadline for the heroes. It overall works, and I’m at this point just picking nits.
I thus far haven’t addressed the elephant in the room. Okja is a movie about the modern industrial meat industry. The ending slaughterhouse scene is fit for a P.E.T.A. promotional. It’s impossible to get through it without rethinking your stance on meat. It’s a topic I have thought on a lot, and I’ll save myself the scandal of where I fall in that particular debate. That being said, If you are a big proponent of the anti-vegan lifestyle, I wouldn’t be totally turned off of Okja.
For what it’s worth, I don’t personally think that Okja is excessively preachy. The gruesome facts of industrial meat processing is just life, and an excellent setting for a compelling narrative. Sure, the evil corporation is profit hungry and amoral. That’s just how it is in life. It’s surely hyperbolic, but it’s a movie about genetically modified superpigs. The ALF also come off as well intentioned idiots, with one particular character refusing to even eat a tomato because, “…all food is exploitation.”
There’s also never an attempt to imply that Mija and her grandfather are going to go vegan in light of their experiences. I mean they run a freaking farm, and one of the first scenes is Mija taking a fish home for dinner. For her, this isn’t a story about the morals of factory farming. It’s about her saving her best friend. She couldn’t give two shits about any of these competing parties and their political stances. She just wants Okja back.
Still, I can’t help but tear up when all of the superpigs cried out at the end. It’s clear that there is a message about the bleak world of industrial meat processing. It ends melancholically. Mija gets Okja back, but there’s no change in the global demand for cheap meats. But really, what could one girl do? It’s an unsatisfying conclusion for a whimsical adventure, but like I said the movie abandons whimsey at the halfway point. For Mija and Okja, this is the best they could hope for.
I’d recommend this movie to anyone that has a soft spot for CG animals or bleak adult narratives. So literally everyone (except for hyper-carnivores, I guess). It’s a touching and wonderfully made film. It certainly isn’t a monster movie. The horror comes from the macabre subject matter, not from any monster attacks. It’s not perfect, and won’t be getting a perfect score, but it’s too poignant to not recommend.
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