A stunning film. I was told that it is hard to get a strong voice about animals made into a film. Hollywood doesn't want to touch it. Well Hollywood might be afraid of it but when you have Brad Pitt, a strong advocate for veganism and animal welfare, producing the film and a pariah and new power player on the block like Netflix willing to distribute, then you get a film like Okja made. Then you add a terrific international cast like Paul Dano, Steven Yuen, Tilda Swinton and the star of the movie, Seo-Hyun Ahn plus a superstar Korean director like Joon-ho Bong and you have one hell of a film. For those who don't know, Bong directed the highest grossing South Korean movie of all time, The Host and he also did the well received Snowpiercer. Make no mistake about it, this film has a strong representation behind and in front of the camera. And this is a film that is not only a strong voice, but it is one that is needed.
I'm a strong advocate for animal welfare and this film is up there as one of the best fictional films I've ever seen about the topic. You have a giant corporation that has made genetically modified super pigs. These pigs have grown to be massive animals, perhaps twenty times the size of normal pigs. They send these pigs off to live in all different corners of the world and their plan is to ten years later see which pig is the best and then parade him in New York city as part of a promotion to buy this corporation's new meat. Okja lives with Mija on her tiny farm in South Korea. They have a vast land where Okja and Mija have formed a bond. The corporation comes by, takes Okja and plans to kill him and all the other super pigs in a few days.
Enter the ALF which plans on saving Okja.
There's many strengths of the film. I'll just mention a few of them. The cast is brilliant. I enjoyed Steven Yuen especially. He has a screen presence, even when he was on the Walking Dead, you could feel it. He is very strong here. Paul Dano is excellent as well and Tilda Swinton might be the best actress alive who can play a bitch, someone you just despise. Ahn is priceless as the young girl and she sells the relationship with Okja.
But an animal welfare movie about pigs being sent to slaughter wouldn't be complete without the horrors that must be shown. There are very disturbing abattoir scenes and it's quite graphic. There's also a fair bit of animal mistreatment and for someone like me, someone who strongly advocates animal welfare, these scenes were very tough to watch. But they were necessary and they add to the overall tone of the movie.
Okja is perhaps the best film I've seen this year. It does everything right and it will probably help me become a vegan instead of just vegetarian. I applaud Netflix for getting this film made.
10/10
I'm a strong advocate for animal welfare and this film is up there as one of the best fictional films I've ever seen about the topic. You have a giant corporation that has made genetically modified super pigs. These pigs have grown to be massive animals, perhaps twenty times the size of normal pigs. They send these pigs off to live in all different corners of the world and their plan is to ten years later see which pig is the best and then parade him in New York city as part of a promotion to buy this corporation's new meat. Okja lives with Mija on her tiny farm in South Korea. They have a vast land where Okja and Mija have formed a bond. The corporation comes by, takes Okja and plans to kill him and all the other super pigs in a few days.
Enter the ALF which plans on saving Okja.
There's many strengths of the film. I'll just mention a few of them. The cast is brilliant. I enjoyed Steven Yuen especially. He has a screen presence, even when he was on the Walking Dead, you could feel it. He is very strong here. Paul Dano is excellent as well and Tilda Swinton might be the best actress alive who can play a bitch, someone you just despise. Ahn is priceless as the young girl and she sells the relationship with Okja.
But an animal welfare movie about pigs being sent to slaughter wouldn't be complete without the horrors that must be shown. There are very disturbing abattoir scenes and it's quite graphic. There's also a fair bit of animal mistreatment and for someone like me, someone who strongly advocates animal welfare, these scenes were very tough to watch. But they were necessary and they add to the overall tone of the movie.
Okja is perhaps the best film I've seen this year. It does everything right and it will probably help me become a vegan instead of just vegetarian. I applaud Netflix for getting this film made.
10/10