While each of his three science-fiction movies pay homage to different aspects of the science-fiction genre, they each come loaded with contemplations on real life hot button issues, with Okja setting its sight on the way big corporations treat the animals they intend to turn into food. All of that gets mixed together with the tale of a young girl and her friendship with a creature that looks like a pig/hippo hybrid plus all kinds of super duper heightened touches like a Jake Gyllenhaal performance that's truly like nothing else the versatile actor has delivered before. Basically, Okja is a Bong Joon-Ho movie; thoughtful, stylized and all kinds of awesome!
The plot proper concerns Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), a young girl living in South Korea whose best friend is Okja, a Super-Pig that her family has been taking care of on behalf of the Mirando Corporation for ten years. Back in 2007, the head of the Mirando Corporation, Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton), made a big pitch that a group of farmers from all over the world (which included Mija's family) would each help grow one Super-Pig. In ten years time, the one that was deemed the best of the bunch would be at the center of a big celebration in New York City. It turns out Okja is selected as the best and is taken away from Mija, who does not take to the removal of her best pal lightly.
She heads out to Seoul, where Okja is being held by the Mirando Corporation before being transported to New York City proper. It is here that she meets a group of members from animal rights group ALF (Animal Liberation Front), with this pack of individuals being led by Jay (Paul Dano). They want to use Okja as a way to expose the treachery occurring in the Mirando Corporation, which places one little girl and her Super-Pig in the middle of a larger scale battle between activists and big corporations they could have never imagined, a battle that Lucy Mirando is not keen to see play out given how much bad publicity it could create for her company.
Even amidst its large cast and variety of plot points, Okja never loses sight of what works best in its plot; the friendship between Mija and Okja. These two are buddies through and through and it's so sweet how the movie spends an extended portion of its running time early on simply to tranquil sequences depicting the duo getting into shenanigans in the forest. There's a Hayao Myizaki/Calvin & Hobbes vibe in these pivotal and emotionally engaging scenes in the way they balance the fantastical with the serene in a heavily naturalistic environment. You can call it corny if ya want, but when Mija hugs her big lumbering pig.hippo critter, what can I say? My frequently cynical heart melted!
What's great about this segment of the feature is that it provides a lovely bit of grounding for what's to come. As the stories scope expands Mija and Okja at their homestead, more and more delightfully over-the-top pot details and sequences unfold that play as a direct contrast to the more low-key occurrences at Mija's home. The intention here is clear; Mija and especially Okja are at peace together in their home and trying to disrupt such an arrangement, especially for selfish purposes, is not a good idea. Okja just doesn't belong here in this crazy world, as emphasized by how he moves in such a frightened manner when trying to navigate the crowded streets of Seoul, South Korea.
Some of the craziness our two leads encounter come straight from the movies best performance, Jake Gyllenhaal as Dr. Johnny Wilcox, a TV personality who serves as a majorly important spokesperson for the Mirando Corporation. Speaking in a high-pitched voices and carrying body language that suggests a high amount of influence from booze, Gyllenhaal is just going for broke in this part and he's an absolute hoot to behold. Ditto for a wonderful turn from Tilda Swinton as a similarly heightened caricature of an executive of a major corporation, who puts potential marketing opportunities as a priority long before considering the feelings of a young girl towards her pet Super-Pig.
Mija's adventure is captured through a lovely visual aesthetic courtesy of cinematographer Darius Khondji, a guy who is able to both capture the beauty of the Earth and the terrors of the Mirando corporation with equal levels of success. Also successful? The CGI used to bring Okja to life. I just love the way he moves with real weight on his body, it lends a sense of realism to a creature that very much doesn't belong to reality. The computer-effects used to bring this beast to life are sublime and the live-action characters interact with this CGI being incredibly well to the point that I totally forgot I was watching a CGI creation during the movie. You can also chalk that up to how well Bong Joon-Ho and Jon Ronson's script develops the friendship between Mija and Okja that drives the entire plot. There's so much in Okja worthy of massive amounts of praise (a chase scene set to John Denver's Annie's Song may be one of the most gloriously absurd and amazing things seen in a movie in 2017 thus far) but the way it's able to capture such a wonderfully selfless friendship amidst such larger-than-life circumstances may be its finest achievement. Needless to say, if his future endeavors in sci-fi are even half as successful as Okja then Bong Joon-Ho needs to come back to this genre pronto!
No comments:
Post a Comment