OKJA (2017)

Studio:       Netflix
Director:    Bong Joon Ho
Writer:       Bong Joon Ho, Jon Ronson
Producer:  Ted Sarandos, Lewis Taewan Kim, Dooho Choi, Woo Sik Seo, Bong Joon Ho, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Stars:     Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, An Seo Hyun, Byun Heebong, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yoon Je Moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Woo Shik Choi, Giancarlo Esposito, Jake Gyllenhaal

Review Score:

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Summary:

A Korean girl journeys to New York to rescue her beloved super pig from the clutches of a greedy international corporation.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

2007 – New York – Mirando Corporation CEO Lucy Mirando holds a press conference to announce the company’s “Super Pig Project.” Lucy explains that after a super piglet was discovered on a Chilean farm, 26 similar animals were reproduced and sent to each country where Mirando has a branch office. Local farmers are instructed to raise each animal according to their culture. In ten years, animal TV personality Dr. Johnny Wilcox will judge who raised the best super pig to be an economical food source.

10 Years Later – South Korea – Elderly farmer Hee Bong Joo continues raising his super pig, named Okja, with his granddaughter Mija, who has become best friends with the oversized animal. Dr. Johnny climbs the mountain to Hee’s home with Mirando representative Mundo Park and a camera crew. Dr. Johnny declares Okja the winner of the 10-year contest.

Hee privately admits to his granddaughter that he was unable to purchase Okja, and the animal is fated to be slaughtered for meat after she is transported back to America. Hee presents Mija with a solid gold pig statue as consolation. Over her grandfather’s protests, Mija runs away to Seoul to rescue Okja.

Mija breaks into the Mirando office in Seoul. With disgruntled employee Wooshik Kim driving, Mundo escorts Okja out of the building in a semi-truck. Mija runs after the truck on foot and is able to jump on its trailer.

Representing the activist group Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Jay, K, Blond, Silver, and Red use their own truck to force the Mirando truck to stop. The ALF team attempts to corral Okja when she gets loose in a tunnel, but Okja runs away with Mija.

Okja causes havoc in an underground shopping center before crashing onto her side while fleeing. ALF protects Okja when military men arrive to tranquilize her. The ALF team ultimately escapes with Okja and Mija in their truck.

With K translating between English and Korean, Jay explains to Mija that Mirando wants to return Okja to an underground laboratory in Paramus, New Jersey for experimental testing. Jay reveals that Okja was created through genetic modification, not breeding, and ALF aims to expose Mirando for lying about how it cultivated this new source of meat. ALF plans to switch Okja’s black box tag with a hacked unit that will allow them to record video evidence of what happens to Okja inside the lab.

Because of ALF’s ethics, Jay asks for Mija’s permission to let Okja be recaptured in order to carry out their mission. Mija responds that she wants Okja to return to the mountains. K mistranslates Mija’s response and tells the others that Mija agrees to the mission.

The activists stop the truck on a bridge and escape by jumping into the water below. Pursuing police recapture Okja and forcibly take Mija into custody.

Lucy Mirando discusses the situation with Frank Dawson, who is secretly plotting to replace Lucy with her unscrupulous twin sister Nancy, and other executives. To counteract the negative press of Mija being taken away by Korean authorities acting in Mirando’s interests, Frank and Lucy come up with a PR plan to bring Mija to America for a photo op reunion with Okja.

Once Okja is back in captivity in America, Dr. Johnny forces her to mate with a super pig named Alfonso. Monitoring their surveillance video feed, ALF is horrified at the footage. K is compelled to confess that he lied about Mija agreeing to the mission. Jay angrily beats K before kicking him out of ALF.

Dr. Johnny extracts meat samples from Okja. Taste-testers declare the meat a new sensation and it becomes a popular hit.

Flanked by Mirando representatives, Mija arrives in New York. Jay sneaks into Mija’s hotel room to apologize for what happened. He also promises to rescue Okja when Mija is brought on stage to reunite with her at Okja’s public unveiling.

After a celebratory parade, Dr. Johnny introduces Lucy Mirando to the assembled crowd. Lucy welcomes Mija to the stage before announcing Okja. However, Okja is visibly dejected and does not initially react positively to Mija’s presence.

ALF takes over the presentation’s video feed, publicly shaming Dr. Johnny and Mirando by playing footage of Okja’s forcible mating and meat extraction. The assembly erupts into chaos.

Armed guards recapture Okja after the fray and take most of the ALF activists into custody. Nancy Mirando takes control of the company away from her disgraced sister Lucy to begin moving Mirando Corporation past the scandal. Nancy immediately orders that all of the super pigs be put into production.

K arrives at the scene in time to rescue Jay and Mija from being captured. K drives Jay and Mija to the slaughterhouse to rescue Okja. Before Mija can fully stop Okja from being escorted into the renderer, Nancy Mirando and Frank Dawson arrive with armed guards. Jay and K are taken into custody.

Mija pleads for Okja’s release. Nancy claims that she is merely conducting business. Mija tosses the gold pig statue that her grandfather gave her to Nancy and asks to buy Okja. Nancy accepts the offer. The Mirando team leaves Mija free to take Okja with her.

On their way past the pens of super pigs still being sent to slaughter, a baby super pig is pushed out of a fence. Okja smuggles the animal out of the slaughterhouse in her mouth. Mija, Okja, and the baby super pig ultimately return to the South Korean mountain where they reunite with Hee Bong Joo.

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Review:

Ten years ago, cheerfully scattered CEO Lucy Mirando concocted a scheme to manufacture an economical source of meat by reproducing a rare super pig found on a Chilean farm.  26 of these oversized animals were then sent to 26 different countries for a decade-long contest to see who could raise the best sentient slab of bacon.

With the competition now complete, elderly Korean farmer Hee Bong Joo is crowned the victor for his prized super pig named Okja, a constant companion to his granddaughter Mija.  When Mija discovers winning means Okja is booked on a one-way trip to the slaughterhouse, she isn’t about to let her best friend go without a fierce fight.  This kicks off an international rescue operation involving animal activists playing Mission: Impossible, behind-the-scenes businesspeople backstabbing, and the unbreakable bond between a young girl and her beloved pet.

“Okja” constructs itself chiefly around this charming connection between Mija and the titular creature.  Early scenes survey the basic lay of their relationship land as the pair traipses through trees.  Mija shows her care for Okja when it comes to feeding, bathing, and bowel functions.  Okja shows her concern for the girl’s wellbeing when she saves Mija from a near-death spill off a cliff.

Essentials are established, yet this emotional anchor only skirts the sea floor without digging deep into a firm hold.  Okja and Mija spent ten years growing up together, but we only see ten minutes.  Separated so soon to speed the story into glumness turns characterizations grim before the audience can fully grin first.

That’s the kind of conflict that gets the movie into a jam.  Inside “Okja” beats the storytelling heart of a film where Studio Ghibli sensibilities meet Steven Spielberg sentimentality.  Lamentably, that heart pumps a great deal of B negative blood into a body in need of A positive.  “Okja” is left jaundiced from contradictory content too schizophrenic to settle on a consistent tone, much less come to an agreement on exactly what “Okja” wants to be, or who it is for.  Such confusion summons countless questions.

Is “Okja” intended to be family-friendly fare?  Out of place F-bombs arriving with surprising frequency suggest otherwise.  So does placing Mija in the path of violent danger that is more harrowing than engaging for any parent fearful of seeing a child splattered onto a freeway overpass.

Does “Okja” mean to indict corporate culture with sly commentary on commercial consumerism?  If so, why are the two primary antagonists portrayed as buffoonish stooges rather than outright evil suits?   Their agendas come off as jokily misguided instead of socially reprehensible.  The film wants them to be funny even though there isn’t anything whimsical about what they are up to.

Bafflingly, Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal are the only actors playing their parts as cartoonish caricatures while everyone else stays straight, aside from extraneous characters inserted solely for flat comic relief.  Gyllenhaal in particular channels all of the Marx Brothers into one singularly puzzling performance of pure overanimation.  Jim Carrey and William Shatner would both blush while advising him to dial it back.

What’s the thematic takeaway when the journey ends in the same place it started with the heroes largely unchanged?  Director Bong Joon Ho is well within his right to offer an optimistic outcome for some while bleakness overwhelms others.  But what is someone led to think about Mija and Okja’s apparent contentedness to leave things where they are in New York?

Is the meaning supposed to be that love heals trauma?  That’s not what the climax implies when Okja reacts to her reunion with Mija.  Does the message mean to say meat is murder or greed isn’t good?  The movie doesn’t lean in a definitive direction on those issues either.

In aiming to please too many parties, “Okja” splits its identity among conflicting interests.  Facilitating drama with the implied rape of an animal or boring boardroom ethics debates goes with poop jokes and heartwarming action-adventure about as well as polka dots go with checkers.

“Okja” features 80 minutes of appealing blockbuster-style entertainment with a poignant plot.  It also includes 40 minutes of depressingly dark adult material taking the movie in eight inharmonious directions at once.  No one could argue that “Okja” isn’t a technically accomplished and polished presentation.  But the tonal imbalance between cinematic fun and seriously weighty stakes never evens out in enjoyment’s best interests.

Review Score:  55

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