If the film has eco-terrorists, beautiful landscapes, giant pigs and Tilda Swinton, does he need anything else? Probably a talented director and smart producers. With the first item here, everything is in order. Bong Joon-ho, the creator of two rolling sensations in his native Korea - detective "Memories of Murder" and the horror "The Host", has already shown with the anti-utopic movie-comic "Snowpiercer" that he can shoot in any country and in any language: on this project, he became friends with Tilda Swinton. "Okja" is the next step of the author, talented and obsessed with the wildest ideas, to a worldwide audience.
The prologue introduces the demonic Lucy Mirando (actually, Swinton), the head of a powerful corporation that launches an international project to grow giant pigs - in theory, he must save the world from starvation. Ecological piglets are moving around the planet to be raised by the best farmers. Ten years later, we meet with one of the adult pigs. Outwardly and in size, however, it looks more like a small elephant or large hippo. Okcha lives in nature, feeds on wild persimmon; she is exceptionally intelligent and good-natured. Of course, the sinister scientists from Mirando Corp choose her for the World Pig Show in New York, where they are going to showcase their outstanding achievements. The operation is hysterical broadcaster and zoologist, Dr. Johnny (Jake Gyllenhaal). Okja's best friend, who raised her 12-year-old Mija (debutant Ahn Seo-hyun), realizes for the first time why pigs are raised: in order to eat them later. In addition, sent to the rescue of a helpless beast to the other end of the world.
"Okja", among whose executive producers are Swinton and Brad Pitt herself, is at least an extraordinary project. Bong Joon-ho is famous for the fact that all his paintings are not similar to each other (despite the fact that he often invites the same actors and film crew) and each contains a bizarre hybrid of genres. Comedy, thriller, social commentary, drama, fantasy, horror, and comedy again - is it possible to mix these components in one film? Bong Joon-ho proves once again that the task is workable. Therefore, Okja is confusing: it begins as a family tale about the friendship of a girl with a shy animal, and then gradually develops into a grotesque, evil and intentionally schematic satire on the activities of international corporations. The first part can tire and even enrage adults. The second one will upset and disappoint lovers of various mimics: for half an hour, touching the awkward jumping of pretty Okja over mountain lakes and forests, they suddenly find their own mocking portrait in the group of awkward eco-terrorists from the Animal Liberation Front.
The film lacks visually delightful scenes - it was not for nothing that the brilliant Darius Khondji shot it. Actors, even well known to us, work with unexpected, somehow comic-like, zeal, often turning into expressive cartoons. The plot then speeds up and then suddenly brakes. Not having time to rejoice in the parody absurdity of the pig holiday on the streets of New York, we find ourselves at the gravely meatpacking factory. In general, not a film, but a roller coaster, after which naturally nauseated. However, to forget this, once he saw it, is absolutely impossible.
The paradox is that with his antiglobalist satire, Bong Joon-ho made a domineering and intractable film corporation for money (a new type, we suppose, but also hypocritical Lucy Mirando calls for forgetting how her father made rich in the production of napalm, and to welcome the new humane policy of Mirando Corp) . Moreover, protesting against the bullying of wildlife and its natural development, the director himself continues the Michurin cinema experiments. However, no animal was harmed as a result of the shooting: the wonderful Okcha and her relatives were created by the CGI magicians on a computer.
https://youtu.be/8MWwXfzTcow[Okja | Trailer [HD] | Netflix](https://youtu.be/8MWwXfzTcow)
Yes, the author himself is aware of the contradictions, of which his film is based. In the end, in his debut "Flandersui gae" people killed and ate the kidnapped dogs, in the same "The Host", on the contrary, not at all charming, but rather a terrible monster kidnapped and devoured the inhabitants of Seoul. Man admires nature, wants to love it and feel part of it, but is this utopia feasible? Unless in a fairy tale about a kind clever pig and people who were not going to eat it.
The illustrations are used in agreement with the Depositphotos photobank
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