Okja

It's a story about a girl and her pig like creature, which seems like a child's film, but you may not want to bring little kids to it. Bong Joon-ho's followup to the amazing Snowpiecer, is a dark comedy that touches on the meat industry, corporate greed, and animal activism. Director Bong Joon-ho wrote the film with Jon Ronson, creates an unexpected world that will stick with you and maybe reconsider eating a hot dog again. The action goes from New York City, to the quiet and beautiful South Korean countryside. It's interesting that the western characters in this story are all garishly dresses and overly emotional as opposed to the simple farmers who live on at mountain in South Korea.

Mirando Corporation, an agrochemical company, has been accused of horrendous business practices by the late patriarchal founder. Lucy (Tilda Swinton), his daughter agrees that her father was a psychopath and wants to change the image of the company. Her plan is to put on the market a new animal food product, that has been genetically created to be bigger, better, and more sustainable. She wants to make these little piglets more acceptable to the public and people will probably not be so welcoming to a GMO animal. So in a reality show promotion she sends out 27 piglets across the globe and in 10 years will bring them back to New York to see who raised the best pig.

On the mountain in South Korea, Meji (Ahn Seo-hyun) has been the constant companion since the age of four to Okja. They explore the woods and play together, which reminds one of Pete's Dragon. Her grandfather led her to believe that they are paying Miranda to buy Okja, until she learns the truth when the company people show up to take Okja back to NY to be in the super pig contest. Obviously freaked out Meji, follows them to the city to get her friend back. In the process, she meets up with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) led by J (Paul Dano) and his fellow pacifist terrorist team who want to implant a recorder on Okja so they can obtain evidence to show Mirando Corp's evilness. They promise Meji, they have a plan. Meji says no, but ALF's K (Steven Yeun) mistranslated her answer in his enthusiasm to complete their mission. Lucy gets wind of Meji and decides it would be a good marketing ploy to bring her to NY to introduce Okja.

The action gets bumped up with Meji trying to rescue Okja, to the ALF trying to bring to light the animal cruelty, to Lucy's obsession to prove to her sister Nancy that she can be the smart one. On top of all this, there is Jake Gyllenhaal as Dr. Johnny Wilcox, a washed up animal TV personality who is totally unhinged. Tilda Swinton, who usually plays such severely serious characters, is truly wacky and over the top. The CGI pigs are very realistic and helps to suspend belief. The images of the slaughter houses and yards will make vegans cringe, and the trauma suffered by Okja while being bred to another pig, is not for children. Despite that, the movie is truly magical, humorous, endearing and will probably be a favorite flick of the year.

Watch for it on Netfix on June 28, 2017
(Review by reesa)