Due to technicalities, Okja didn’t win any awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Since the film wouldn’t get a theatrical release in France, a requirement of the festival, Netflix’s films (Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories) were reluctantly screened at the festival but did not get anything more than that. However, after watching Okja, one realizes that it is a very relevant film for 2017.
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Netflix’s chilling drama starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Seo-Hyeon may just be one of the best films of 2017.
Due to technicalities, Okja didn’t win any awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Since the film wouldn’t get a theatrical release in France, a requirement of the festival, Netflix’s films (Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories) were reluctantly screened at the festival but did not get anything more than that. However, after watching Okja, one realizes that it is a very relevant film for 2017.
First of all, it must be pointed out that Okja, starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Seo-Hyeon, Paul Dana and Lily Collins, has been released on Netflix. A film that cost nearly $50 million to make will mostly be watched on interwebs as the film was released digitally and theatrically on the same day in many countries. This shows a changing tide in the way films have been making money for the longest time. It’s the box office that collects money which then determines the success of the film. Okja’s success proves that there’s a shift in the way people are consuming cinema. According to The Verge, the film has mostly made all of its money through VOD services and online streaming.
Directed by Bong Joon Ho, a South Korean film director and screenwriter, Okja is about a money-minded corporation, called Mirando corp, headed by an evil CEO (magnificently portrayed by Tilda Swinton) that produces genetically modified ‘super pigs’ in order to combat food shortages around the world, and distributes 10 of them to different farms all over the world. The corporation promises to reward the family that raises the best super-pig. Mirando Corp sends their spokesperson, (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) to assess the pigs and find the winner. The winning pig belongs to Mija (played by Seo-Hyun) who then travels to Seoul and New York to bring back her pig, Okja after she has been taken from her. Mija is aided by the Animal Liberation Front, a group of animal rights activists who fight to save Okja from the torture she has to endure before she is finally killed.
The film definitely throws light on capitalism and corporate greed with the way Mirando Corp operates. Animal cruelty is another interesting topic that is discussed in Okja. The film brilliantly and grotesquely displays a slaughterhouse where the pigs are taken to and it’s enough to make anyone want to become vegetarian for a while.
Director Joon Ho has said it to multiple sources that Netflix allowed him to make the film just the way he wanted and that he had complete creative control over every aspect of the film. And we’re glad that they did because Okja is a beautiful and tragic masterpiece that deserves to be watched at least once.
