Ojka

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🎙️ EPISODE 87: 06.28.17 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝙾𝙽𝙶 𝙹𝙾𝙾𝙽-𝙷𝙾 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝙵𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 While I truly truly wanted to LOVE this film, I think it's fairly clear that it's the weakest entry in Joon-ho's filmography. On the surface, it has just about everything going for it: delightfully over-the-top performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton, among others; adorable and brilliant creature design in the form of the titular Okja; and an important message about sustainability and corporate greed which I agree with wholeheartedly. So where did it go wrong?

Though it's clearly a farce from the start, the movie never quite settles on a consistent tone. It feels like a kids movie on acid, which sounds like a fun trip but ends up being the first almost-miss in Bong's storied career. It's the only movie where he bit off more than he could chew. I suppose this was bound to happen to a man prone to taking such gigantic bites!

That being said, it's definitely not a bad movie by any normal standard (just by BJH's lofty ones). It's a direct predecessor to Snowpiercer, not just chronologically, but spiritually, as they are both INSANE singular ideas blown out to the farthest limits of the imagination. A long-ass train with the rich and poor separated on a globe-circling track because ∴ climate change. A giant-ass super pig bred and raised by a young girl on a remote farm because ∴ sustainability v profit. Lest you thought there wouldn't be a capitalist-skewering angle here as well.

Co-written by the British-American author/journalist Jon Ronson (writer of Frank and other things), Okja was the biggest production to date for BJH. I'm not sure if that pressure led to the dip in quality necessarily, but it's worth noting.... he did retreat to a MUCH smaller project after this. A little film you may have heard about.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 86 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 88 ⫸

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