Originally released on Netflix, Bong Joon-Ho’s Okja is the second of a trilogy of films that launched his name recognition in the West, with Snowpiercer and the Oscar-winning Parasite on either side of it. Like the former, there is a strong Western presence with a cast including Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins (channelling Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s deadpan performance in Frank), Shirley Henderson in a memorable but minor role, and Giancarlo Esposito, as well as being co-produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B company and the screenplay co-written with Jon Ronson.
However, this is unmistakably Director Bong’s film with his typical approach of unflinching social commentary via genre-hopping storytelling. Like his previous take on the monster movie, The Host, the creature that gives the film its title operates on its own sense of morality rather than just being a stereotypically destructive force threatening humanity. Director Bong even worked with the same creature designer, Hee-Chul Jang, to create the titular Okja, a much simpler and more animal-looking being than in The Host. The process is explained in supplements with visual-effects supervisor Erik-Jan de Boer and animation supervisor Stephen Clee with Clee acting in a model of the head, nicknamed a “stuffie”, as a reference for the actors. The team’s hard work combines to create a creature that is impossible not to fall in love with as it farts and waddles its way through the film.
Having such a sympathetic character at its centre ensures that the politically minded narrative never loses emotional impact. It begins in 2007 with Linda Mirando (Swinton) taking over from her sister as CEO of the Mirando company. In a press conference at a factory “stained with the blood of fine working men,” she reveals the miraculous discovery of superpigs in Chile, “like nothing on Earth,” and announces a competition for a number of randomly selected farmers to raise “the ultimate superpig” in ten years. In 2017, we meet Mija who has grown up with her grandfather’s superpig, Okja, as she learns what her best friend’s fate is to be.
As is not so subtly clear from the tag in Okja’s ear, Okja is just one part of a food industrial complex that centres around the meat of her body. Director Bong illustrates each aspect of Mirando by showing us the slaughterhouses and the marketing offices as similarly clinical and horrifyingly unsympathetic to the animals that their careers depend on. Swinton deftly conveys Mirando’s self-awareness about her work – she agrees that calling her father a psychopath is “hardly an unfair slur”- while being self-centred enough to crave the recognition that her sister receives more easily. Jake Gyllenhaal as Dr Johnny Wilcox, a wildlife presenter trying to recover his popularity, provides a divisive performance that has been criticised as being too caricature. While he is clearly channelling the wild eccentricities of Jim Carey and using a completely bizarre voice, there is a clear distinction between Wilcox’s public-facing enthusiasm and the complaining cynic that he is trying to hide.
He is also a clear example of the film’s style of satirical comedy where public figures are overtly concerned with hiding their flaws allowing us to laugh at the contrast between their preening public personas and their problematic private lives. Just as ruthlessly skewered as the capitalist creature killers are the environmental protest group Animal Liberation Front, a forty-year-old organisation that is determined to persist in their cause at any cost. The more comedic example of this attitude comes from Silver (Devon Bostick), constantly on the brink of fainting trying to reduce his environmental footprint by not eating anything. It also reveals the self-sabotaging internal politics of the group that have more serious consequences as the film goes on.
A perfect gateway into Director Bong’s work and for those already familiar with his superlative filmography, it is very satisfying to see him operate without compromise on such a big scale.
This balance of comedy and drama is firmly in Director Bong’s wheelhouse and is evident in visual aesthetics. The film is about the social necessity of lies and takes glee at puncturing glossy corporate sheen from inside the capitalist bubble, whether it is in shots that parody the Obama situation room photo or the electric tree in Mirando’s reception room. The necessity of keeping up appearances is clear through numerous details such as Linda restlessly practising her signature at night and, as explained in supplements with production designer Kevin Tompson and costume designers Choi Seyeon and Catherine George, the concrete box of New York containing a colourful promotional event.
Even the film’s marketing campaign reflected this with web videos, included on the disc, of fake adverts for the Mirando Corporation and their Super Pig project, one of which is interrupted by ALF promoting their website, MirandoIsFucked.com. As well as satirical catchphrases like “Less Hunger. Less disease. Less pain. Less want. We at the Mirando Corporation believe that everybody in this world deserves less”, there are equally unsubtle but funny visual jokes like an advert for My Okja toy ending with real Okja being served for dinner.
It is this sense of having fun that no doubt attracted Netflix and its form of populist entertainment. Okja is Director Bong’s first movie not shot on film and he makes full use of the easier-to-use camera as it swishes with disorientating effect through its set pieces. It is a testament to his skill that in a truck chase scene where Mija is clinging on to dear life, the driver becomes increasingly untrustworthy since the truck is “company property”, and the ALF wielding guns while screaming about being non-violent is as coherent as it is chaotic. Cinematographer Darius Khondj aptly describes in an audio interview the musical rhythm of the camera moves, nowhere more evident than when Okja is on the rampage with Director Bong composer Jaeil Jung clearly having a ball working on such a comic register.
Alongside the broad satire, there is a heartfelt relationship between a little girl and her animal friend that generates genuine tension at the possibility of an unhappy ending. This relationship went beyond what we see on-screen as actor Ahn Seo Hyun says she had some input on Okja’s design, in particular, that she be cuter with bigger ears. The same interview also reveals that she had already been acting for ten years and was going to take a break at only thirteen when she was given the irresistible opportunity to work with Director Bong. This level of experience and the 2015 screen test included in the release show exactly why Hyun was the obvious pick for the role. She is captivating throughout and a bona fide movie star, whether it be chasing after Okja, her red coat standing out in the crowds of Seoul, or going head-to-head with Tilda Swinton.
The supplements provided by Criterion utilise the five years since its original release to reflect on the film’s achievements. The short Netflix featurettes are most likely included for necessity or completist reasons as they add little that the longer supplements don’t already provide. An interview Director Bong conducts with long-time collaborator and supporting actor Byun Hee-bong (Hee Bong, Mija’s grandfather) proves more insightful, tracing his beginnings as a voice actor and how being in Director Bong’s first film reignited his interest in film. Their friendship allows for a relaxed and frank conversation such as how Heebong’s approach to acting mixes instinct and planning.
Similarly informative is a conversation between Bong Joon Ho and producer Dooho Choi that covers the film’s origins with a sketch of Okja and how seeing the “disassembly process” of a slaughterhouse impacted the script. Its unflinching portrayal of this process is largely why Okja was rejected by many film studios before Netflix, so it is especially gratifying that not only was it successful on streaming but earned this physical release from Criterion that highlights how much talent was involved in making every aspect. The film itself is enough of a recommendation as a perfect gateway into Director Bong’s work and for those already familiar with his superlative filmography, it is very satisfying to see him operate without compromise on such a big scale.
OKJA is out on Criterion Collection Blu-Ray and Netflix
