Okja
Entry updated 10 February 2025. Tagged: Film.
Film (2017). A US/South Korean co-production. Plan B Entertainment, Lewis Pictures, Kate Street Picture Company, Netflix, Next Entertainment World. Directed by Bong Joon-ho. Written by Bing and Jon Ronson. Cast includes Ahn Seo-hyun, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Steven Yeun. 120 minutes. Colour.
The Mirando Corporation, run by Lucy Mirando (Swinton), begins a programme of breeding "super pigs" (see Genetic Engineering; Uplift). Ten years later in Korea, young Mija (Ahn) is inseparable from her super-pig Okja, who saves her life when she is about to fall off a cliff. Dr Johnny Wilcox (Gyllanhaal) makes a visit from the Mirando Corporation, and declares Okja the winner of a worldwide "best pig" contest, and takes her away to be displayed in New York. Mija chases after them, but the Animal Liberation Front intervenes, and Okja escapes with the help of ALF member Jay (Dano). He and fellow ALF member and translator K (Yeun) tell Mija of their plan to place a recording device in Okja to expose the corporation's mistreatment of animals. However, K is revealed to be double-crossing them, and Okja is recaptured and forced to mate with another super pig.
During a parade hosted by the corporation to show off their product, the ALF and Mija rescue Okja once more, and release secret footage of animal cruelty. Lucy turns over the company to her twin sister Nancy (also Swinton), who hires a security firm to remove the ALF threat. Okja is captured yet again, and taken to a slaughterhouse where full production of super pig meat is about to begin, leading to one more rescue which enables Mija and Okja to resume their former lives with a piglet who has also escaped. Jay and a repentant K are sent to prison, but upon release vow to continue to disrupt the corporation's plans.
Okja was released to much success in cinemas in Korea, but otherwise was made a flagship new release on Netflix at a time when large budget films with a name cast and director would usually have a normal Cinema run first. The undoubted cuteness of the super pigs no doubt contributed to the generally positive reception it received, but it is a tonally confused and unbalanced film, which seems to suggest that animals are especially worth saving if they look adorable. Though the very sentimentally conveyed pigs would be at home in a Disney movie (see The Walt Disney Company), the rest of the film aims for a more adult tone, mixing social commentary and action sequences, while Swinton's scenery-chewing appears to have wandered in from another film entirely. [CWa]
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