okja
the computer - generated okja, left, and an seo hyun in “okja. ”
mija and her superpig, okja, living happily in the korean countryside. okja is the gmo creation of the mirando corporation .
netflix will invest $ 50 million in upcoming south korean film okja by bong joon ho, local production company okja spc announced on tuesday .
okja
will be released in select theaters and on netflix june 28 .
this post contains spoilers for okja, bong joon - ho’s film on netflix .
bella hadid' s red dress matched the carpet at the' okja' premiere .
actress / co - producer tilda swinton speaks during the “okja” press conference new york .
ahn seo hyun attends the official press conference after korea red carpet premiere of okja .
ahn seo - hyun plays mija, a young farmgirl who takes care of okja .
meet the cast of okja, starring tilda swinton and jake gyllenhaal, on netflix .
seo - hyun ahn as mija and the titular star of okja. photograph: ap
tilda swinton and seo - hyun ahn in okja. photograph: barry wetcher / ap
a young girl named mi - ja (ahn seo - hyun) lives in the mountain. her best friend is okja, who is a massive animal with a shy and introspective character. one day, okja disappears. mi - ja struggles to find okja .
netflix’s irresistible okja is an anti - capitalist e. t. starring tilda swinton and a superpig
saving okja’s bacon… an seo hyun with her ‘super - piglet’ companion. photograph: allstar / netflix
okja is out on netflix on june 28. definitely set aside two hours to watch it .
but the center of the movie is mija and okja. an seo hyun does very little talking in this movie; her determination to save okja is all in her facial expressions and body language. and it' s easy to forget that okja is a cg creation when they share scenes .
mija' s mission to rescue okja takes us to some horrifying places in the meat industrial complex .
okja is a movie starring tilda swinton, paul dano, and seohyun an. a young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named okja .
mija (seo - hyun ahn) and her pet, a
super - pig
named okja .
lucy tries one last publicity stunt, forcing mija to play along if she wants to see okja again .
okja is a plan b entertainment, lewis pictures and kate street picture company production in association with netflix .
okja is described as a
super - pig ,
but it has the mannerisms of a pet. there were so many moments where i recognised looks my dogs give or movements my cats make. okja wants you to rethink humans' relationship to animals, and the vfx of okja does that work all on its own .
rihanna showed off her gown' s impressive plumage at the screening of the film' okja' on friday .
mija (ahn seo hyun) looking after okja, who saves mija' s life using her quick wits .
the film follows okja and her young keeper mija as agribusiness interests compete with animal activists to decide her fate .
tilda swinton and director bong joon ho on the set of
okja
. (barry wetcher / netflix )
cannes, france – going into friday morning’s press screening, most people expected at least some vitriol for netflix’s okja .
okja hits netflix on 28 june, after screening at this year' s edinburgh international film festival on 25 june .
okja
will have its world premiere in the
in competition
section at the 70th cannes film festival .
netflix has released the first teaser for director bong joon - ho’s film okja, premiering exclusively on netflix on june 28 .
paul dano attends “okja” new york premiere at amc loews lincoln square 13 on june 8, 2017 in new york city .
a young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named okja .
currently starring in okja are tilda swinton, jake gyllenhaal, paul dano, bill nighy and kelly macdonald. as the production looks ahead to a late 2016 start in new york and korea, auditions are now underway for a young actress to play the lead role in the story, which is about the friendship between a girl and an animal named okja. okja is due out sometime in 2017 .
brad pitt, dede gardner, jeremy kleiner, lewis taewan kim, dooho choi, woo - sik seo and bong produced okja .
the human performers are all brilliant, but the movie belongs to its title character and her digitally conjured, genetically modified ilk. okja is a miracle of imagination and technique, and “okja” insists, with abundant mischief and absolute sincerity, that she possesses a soul .
okja was written by bong and jon ronson (frank) and follows mija, a young girl who must risk everything to prevent a powerful, multi - national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive animal named ‘okja. ’ mija will be played by seohyun an .
' okja' star jake gyllenhaal, left, tilda swinton and director bong joon ho attend a photocall friday during the cannes film festival .
president of the feature film jury pedro almodovar poses with jury members jessica chastain and park chan - wook at the' okja' premiere .
director bong joon ho at the cannes film festival with his new movie ,
okja .
( stephanie cornfield / for the times )
just finished watching okja and i’m sobbing 🙁 i’ve wanted to become vegan or at least vegetarian and i really want to commit to it .
maybe not everyone’s gonna go vegan, but hopefully # okja can make a lot of people realize how cruel it is to eat animals .
anthropomorphizing okja is a collective labor, one in which the viewer—devastated by the pig’s plight—takes part. in this way, okja ’s position at the nexus of capitalist and posthumanist anxiety assumes the resonance of a 21st century frankenstein. but where the parts that make up dr. frankenstein’s monster have been taken from the masses—ripped from mass graves and cobbled together in the scientist’s laboratory—okja’s parts proliferate in the masses, in the mass - produced meat product that contains traces of her genes. where frankenstein’s monster is animated from dead bodies, okja’s meat is made to animate living ones .
what do you think about the okja teaser? are you going to watch the movie? let us know your thoughts in the comments below .
shooting for okja will begin in early 2017 in korea and u. s. it is due to be released in cinemas later that year .
updated: technical problems marred netflix ’s press screening for “ okja ” on friday morning at the cannes film festival, according to audience members .
there are broad performances, there are performances said to be “as broad as a barn, ” and then there’s jake gyllenhaal’s performance in okja .
okja is an absolutely gloriously strange and eccentric film with a proper heavyweight cast and is, excitingly, my first review for a netflix movie .
“with ‘okja’ i want to show the beauty that can exist between man and animal, and also the horror between them, ” said director bong .
the animal liberation front, led by pacifist jay (the excellent as ever paul dano) have other ideas and plan various interventions to rescue okja .
when the mirando corporation steals young mija' s best friend, a genetically modified beast named okja, it sets the stage for a daring rescue mission .
okja is expected to stream live on netflix on june 29, with a limited theatrical run in the u. s. , uk and south korea .
read more: ‘okja’ review: bong joon ho delivers his ‘e. t. ’ with delightful tale of a mutant pig and the girl who loves her
okja
has a clear political agenda in mind, but its polemics don' t get in the way of how wildly, strangely enjoyable it is .
netflix has released its new movie, okja, which is described by cnn as “an animal - rights message as well as cautionary warnings about corporate greed. ”
but bong also acknowledges that
okja ,
with its painstakingly designed and computer - generated pig protagonist, was made to be seen on the big screen .
from visionary filmmaker bong joon - ho, the creative mind behind the worldwide sensation snowpiercer, comes the new global adventure okja. the film follows the epic journey of mija, a young girl who must risk everything to prevent a powerful, multi - national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive animal named ‘okja’ .
okja pushes back against this by foregrounding the relationship between a little girl and her animal friend. so, yes, okja is a well - engineered beast who contributes to lower environmental impact, but she’s also an individual animal who loves and is loved – and she has an ethically significant interest in her own well - being .
the film then flashes forward to quieter times, where teenage mija (ahn seo - hyun) is raising her super - pig okja in the mountains in south korea. okja is part of a “contest” for farmers around the world to grow the biggest super - pig, and when johnny and the mirando team come to visit, it’s clear okja is the winner. but that means she’ll be taken to new york city, and all mija wants is for her best friend to stay in korea with her .
neither “ okja ” nor noah baumbach’s “the meyerowitz stories” are on track to receive even limited theatrical releases in france, having been refused temporary exhibition visas by the cnc .
meanwhile, tilda swinton, who starred in snowpiercer, is set to have a role in okja. other cast members include jake gyllenhaal, paul dano and bill nighy .
summary: meet mija, a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi - national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive animal named okja .
trying to rescue okja, mija winds up thrown together with animal rights activists who want to reveal mirando' s animal abuses. their radical leader, jay (paul dano), is in some ways just another version of lucy. obsessed with his own image, constantly livestreaming his group' s political actions, he cares more about ideological purity than okja' s well - being. the film shuttles us between one hypocritical leader and another, until the only thing we trust is mija' s bond with okja .
meet your new hero. mija, played by an seo hyun, is introduced by the cast of the upcoming netflix original film, okja. only on netflix june 28 .
that might change with the host director bong joon - ho’s latest picture, a strange, sweeping cautionary tale of late - capitalist greed called okja, available on netflix worldwide .
exhibitor lotte cinema, run by lotte entertainment, said it is also currently discussing what it calls
the okja problem ,
according to a source employed by the exhibitor .
okja stars korean child actor ahn seo - hyun as mija, a young girl who has to protect her best friend, a giant pig named okja, from being kidnapped by a multinational corporation. she’s assisted in her efforts by members of the animal liberation front, portrayed in the film as a group of hapless but well - natured eco - warriors .
the decision in south korea is rather similar. netflix’s day - and - date release strategy, in which “okja” would open in theaters and also be available to stream on netflix, violates the country’s three - week window between theatrical release and streaming availability. the major theater chains take this window seriously, and it’s the driving force behind rejecting “okja. ”
bong also discussed comments made by cannes jury president pedro almodóvar, who said that he believed that films without theatrical distribution like okja shouldn’t be considered for the festival’s prestigious palme d’or .
in a swish marketing move, several of these super - pigs are sent around the world to be raised through traditional, local methods; one, okja, ends up on a remote farm in south korea, where a little girl named mija lives. and so, okja and mija grow up together, becoming the very best of friends in the process .
lucy mirando (tilda swinton, left) reunites mija (seo - hyun ahn) with her genetically engineered pet, okja, in bong joon ho' s offbeat action - adventure .
when asked how she feels that most people worldwide will see okja on their laptops or smartphones, swinton pointed out that thousands of cannes entries won’t ever be seen on the big screen .
jay (paul dano) heads the animal rights activist group who want to help mija rescue okja. they turn out to be almost as corrupt as the corporation they want to stop .
since it was a first meeting, he actually didn’t speak about okja for a while, but we met and just had a chitchat. then eventually, he started talking about okja and it was a very natural process. i felt that, since the beginning, perhaps the director was treating me as [ my character ] mija, even though he never spoke about it .
as part of netflix’s push for more original content, okja will debut on the streaming service some time in 2017 alongside a limited theatrical release. subscribers might’ve noticed the increasing lack of movie options available to them on the platform, and that’s because netflix is diverting more of its funds towards developing and acquiring films, like okja, and original series. they reportedly spent upwards of $ 6 billion this year alone. so, while we mourn the loss of some of our preferred titles, we should also celebrate if it means more interesting projects like okja are coming our way .
these two make all the rest of this movie — as beautifully shot and acted as it is — work. if you didn' t believe mija' s relationship with okja, it would all fall apart. there' d be too many characters, too many motivations, and too many locations to keep track of. but mija' s love for okja anchors it all. they pull you through the movie, leaving you to think about all the other things bong addresses later. and ever since i saw okja, i have not been able to stop thinking about it .
darisu khondji (se7en, evita, midnight in paris) is the latest addition to bong joon - ho’s upcoming film okja. the renowned cinematographer has come on board the south korean director’s project .
“to me, the crazy world surrounding okja and the girl looks more like a monster. i want to depict the two characters’ bizarre journey and adventure across the tough world in an original fashion” .
netflix made a bigger splash at cannes than intended when it visited the prestigious film festival for the first time this year, bringing along new films
okja
and
the meyerowitz stories .
it wasn’t as complicated as i thought it would be in the beginning because there was a stuffed animal standing in for okja. there was a real person inside it, and i think maybe i was able to project my feelings for okja onto the stuffy and the person operating it. it became a real relationship with that person, like with any other actor. it became a real experience .
bong also blamed himself for some of the outcome, saying he had always envisioned okja, a $ 50m sci - fi pic backed by netflix and plan b– to be viewed on the big screen .
given bong’s popularity in his home country, “okja” was expected to be one of the biggest releases of the summer in south korea. the movie is scheduled to open june 29, and now local distributor next entertainment world will be looking for other options of opening “okja” in theaters. one possibility is targeting south korea’s independent theaters, but they only account for 7% of the total screens in the country .
of course, the final version of okja contains a brutal slaughterhouse scene that would likely have been nixed in the hands of another production company. without it, okja would be merely weird rather than weirdly breathtaking, as bong patiently shows the jarring, grisly nature with which the superpigs meet their end; it isn’t polemical, but it certainly takes an otherwise beautiful, eccentric film to a more harrowing place. its inclusion should ensure that okja has a lasting effect, if not by forcing us to reconsider where our food comes from than by cementing netflix as more than an endless repository of old movies and shows .
new, which had previously announced that it was pursuing
an unlimited run
for okja in theaters, does not plan to scrap its plan of having the film debut on netflix at the same time .
sarandos seemed pleased with the critical response to both “okja” and “the meyerowitz stories, ” and happy that the media had shifted their focus away from the controversy stirred up by his company’s presence on the croisette .
but mija' s blissful prelapsarian worldview is cruelly ruptured when okja is suddenly hauled away to new york by her creator, corporate ceo lucy mirando (swinton), who is seeking to erase her company' s dubious track record with eco - friendly, feed - the - world, ethical - capitalist publicity stunts. inevitably, however, mirando' s real plans for okja turn out to be far more sinister .
okja itself (prounced ook - tah) is mix between a hippo and a pig and is like a studio ghibli creation brought to life, looking so lifelike you’ll have to remind yourself it doesn’t actually exist .
netflix confirmed on monday bong joon - ho’s recent cannes competition selection okja will premiere theatrically on june 28 in new york and los angeles day - and - date with the global online launch on its streaming platform .
okja is a most remarkable pig. as big as a medium - sized elephant, with a snout that looks more canine than porcine, she is slobbery and sometimes flatulent, but also loyal, gentle and brave. okja is devoted, above all, to a girl named mija. they have grown up together on a remote mountain farm that belongs to mija’s grandfather, inseparable companions in a classic literary and cinematic tradition .
okja follows the journey of mija (an seo hyun) and okja, a giant
super pig ,
as the young woman tries to rescue her friend from a mega - corporation. it begins on an idyllic mountain farm in rural south korea, moves to seoul for a massive amount of destruction, breaks your heart in a hellish laboratory in new jersey, and visits a too - slick marketing stunt in new york .
if shelley’s monster concentrated an anxiety about the collective at the close of the 18th century, bong joon - ho’s monstrous pig focalizes a slightly different anxiety for contemporary viewers: not about the collective per se, but about collective labor. after all, collective labor is the machine that makes okja run. it lays dormant in her computer - generated flesh, engineered by a team of graphics designers. it resides in the computer algorithms that recommend okja to subscribers (“because you watched twin peaks …”) and in the crowdsourced content provider that is netflix studios. we manifest it when we feel okja’s cgi - pain. when we boo netflix’s global capitalism but cheer okja ’s anti - globalist message, we miss the ways in which the film’s politics of production and its ethics of representation align: in a pathetic appeal to mass emotion to keep up the mass work .
cannes: netflix' s controversial' okja' gets booed for technical snafu bong joon ho' s action - adventure was stopped just 10 minutes into friday' s press screening. check out this story on urltoken urltoken
in the context of mirando’s lab, where mutant pigs appear as freak show spectacles, we don’t feel okja’s own monstrosity. she seems more out of place among other gmos than she did among her human companions. the scene confirms okja’s transformation from super pig to super pet, but this transformation is no less instrumental to human needs than that of pig to pork. despite bong joon - ho’s representation of human agents as grotesque, naïve, or marginal, okja ’s narrative reinforces a world order in which animals, machines, and animal - machines matter because they’re made by humans for humans. they even look, act, and feel like us .
our protagonist, mija (ahn seo hyun), seems to be the only sane perspective in the film. she' s a young woman living in the korean countryside who befriends her grandfather' s superpig, the eponymous okja. her innocence and righteous fury are the perfect foil to the whacked - out cynicism of johnny, lucy, and lucy' s assistant frank dawson (giancarlo esposito). romping through the ultra - idyllic forest, mija and okja are inseparable. but of course their time together can' t last. one day, johnny arrives with a crew of social media thugs from mirando to award okja first place in the superpig contest .
okja, directed by bong joon ho, stars tilda swinton, paul dano, seo - hyun ahn, hee - bong byun, steven yeun, and lilly collins. it will stream to netflix on june 28, 2017
when the ten year mark arrives, mija' s grandfather tells her that he had to turn okja over to the company, but that she can take solace in his compensatory gift to her, a tiny gold pig. mija and okja' s separation kicks off a story that follows the pig from south korea to new york city and (parenthetically) to a plant near paramus, new jersey, where hundreds of other prototype pigs are kept for experimentation and eventual slaughter. members of the animal liberation federation (alf, just like the sitcom alien) briefly kidnap okja and fit her with a camera that they hope will expose the company' s animal rights abuses .
for 10 idyllic years, young mija (an seo hyun) has been caretaker and constant companion to okja – a massive animal and an even bigger friend – at her home in the mountains of south korea. but that changes when a family - owned multinational conglomerate mirando corporation takes okja for themselves and transports her to new york, where image obsessed and self - promoting ceo lucy mirando (tilda swinton) has big plans for mija’s dearest friend .
' okja' cast and crew devon bostick, jake gyllenhaal, lily collins, paul dano, director bong joon - ho, actors tilda swinton, ahn seo - hyun, steven yeun and byung heebong pose on the carpet .
okja stars tilda swinton, paul dano, byun heebong, steven yeun, lily collins, giancarlo esposito, jake gyllenhaal and newcomer an seo hyun as “mija. ” be sure to check them out on netflix on june 28th .
okja is an uncommon achievement for a variety of reasons: the technical acuity of bong’s filmmaking, the allegorical rebuke of the food industry, the film’s unorthodox streaming release, and the kickass force of nature that is mija. but to me, okja is exciting for another singularly remarkable feat: it is not only the first major film to seamlessly integrate english and korean (an estimated 20 percent of the film’s dialogue is in korean), but it also features what might be the most realistic korean american character in film history. indeed, i’d argue the best way to fully appreciate okja is if you understand both korean and english — even though it won’t alienate those on either side .
despite the technical issues, early reviews of okja have been broadly positive, with the guardian’s peter bradshaw writing that the film “rattles along with glorious storytelling gusto in the spirit of roald dahl” as part of a five - star review .
okja will premiere globally on netflix in 2017 and will also have a limited day and date theatrical release in the us. netflix is also looking for theatrical partners for a day and date release in select international territories, including korea .
each of these docile beasts is despatched to a different corner of the planet to be reared. the enormous okja grows up in rural korea, gambolling in the fields with her young companion, mija (ahn seo - hyun) .
netflix announced that principal photography began yesterday on its feature film okja in seoul, south korea. from director bong joon - ho (snowpiercer, the host, mother), okja is produced by plan b, lewis pictures and kate street picture company, and stars tilda swinton (hail, caesar! , moonrise kingdom), jake gyllenhaal (nightcrawler, everest) and paul dano (love & mercy, 12 years a slave) in a bold, global adventure .
there is, though, an amusing irony to the film’s controversial distribution: okja, which cost $ 50m to make, is readymade for the big screen, complete with heist - like drama, a manatee - sized pig and mesmerizing shots of mija and okja roaming the south korean mountaintops. but it’ll almost universally be consumed via laptop screens, ipads and home televisions. of course most films are nowadays, their digital shelf lives being far longer than their theatrical ones .
the premise of “okja” stemmed not from the context of mirando’s cruelty, but from the idea of a genetically engineered colossus with a “sad” face and a “lovely” disposition. bong said he wanted to filter the perspective through characters who love the animal, specifically a headstrong child. by the time he was scripting the movie’s first draft, bong had dismissed his original ending, favoring okja’s show - stopping near - slaughter and mija’s showdown with the callous nancy mirando (tilda swinton) .
bong joon - ho, korean director of the cannes film festival - bound drama “ okja, ” has pushed back at sectors of the french industry that are angry with the selection of two netflix - backed films in the competition section .
ah, those were the days — before mija realized her super pig was destined to become super pork. like the unsuspecting turkey that enjoys a spoiled life being fattened only to get a rude awakening the day before thanksgiving, neither mija nor her enormous pet has any idea what’s in store for okja — which makes the young girl all the more devastated when dr. johnny (gyllenhaal, sweaty and screechy in a performance that’s three times as weird as it needs to be) shows up to meet okja and bring her back to new york city. naturally, mija wants to recover okja, and so she sets off, armed with her solid - gold dowry, to beg, steal or buy back the big pig .
brad pitt, dede gardner, jeremy kleiner, lewis taewan kim, dooho choi, woo - sik seo and bong joon - ho are producers on the film. okja is a plan b, lewis pictures and kate street picture company production .
the early scenes borrow the leisurely rhythms of mija’s idyllic days with okja; she snoozes on the beast’s vast belly, softly rising and falling in time with her pet’s breathing. yet once she follows the kidnapped creature to seoul, where they are taken in by a band of animal rights activists, the film lurches from one style to another. what begins as a tranquil buddy movie finishes up in the blood - soaked slaughterhouse where okja is due to end her days; it’s as though
as okja and cowspiracy make clear, the technical debate into the environmental impact of eating meat is critically important. but even if animal agribusiness could be made thoroughly sustainable, routine practices of confinement, forcible reproduction and slaughter remain highly ethically questionable .
bong spoke monday at a presentation in seoul alongside netflix chief content officer ted sarandos. they confirmed that “okja” will, in fact, receive theatrical outings in three territories: south korea, the u. s. and the u. k .
but with okja, bong joon - ho was less concerned with these rituals – which have the ultimate effect of arbitrarily ascribing value to some films and not others – than with having complete creative control over the project, which netflix famously affords .
the pivotal scene in okja, bong joon - ho’s netflix - produced film about a girl and the genetically - enhanced
super - pig
she loves, is performed in a mishmash of three languages: english, korean, and konglish .
if
snowpiercer
and
okja
feel like products of (and metaphors for) an increasingly global film industry, bong maintains that his casting and location decisions of late remain as story - driven as they were in his korean productions .
the korean auteur is drawing more and more comparisons to steven spielberg, and it’s not hard to see why— okja is like a more brutal e. t. , if e. t. had been at risk of being turned into mass - produced jerky. like that film, bong’s is about the loss of innocence, but more importantly, it’s about the value of innocence. mija is neither a simpleton nor a fool for developing a genuine relationship with okja, and she’s right to try and rescue her when the mirando corporation eventually comes to take her away. you’ll likely be gripping your armrest, practically cheering her on, as mija gives pursuit to okja’s captors—though her enemy is a vast capitalist entity, her cause doesn’t seem hopeless .
the early morning press screening of the netflix film “okja” was interrupted by boos and angry applause in the palais des festivals on friday at the cannes film festival in france — particularly at the appearance of the company’s logo at the start of the film .
“it really is a fantastic opportunity for me as a filmmaker. for okja, i needed a bigger budget than i had for snowpiercer and also complete creative freedom. netflix offered me the two conditions that are difficult to have in hand simultaneously. ”
fast forward a decade to somewhere far from mirando hq, where mija lives in a state of total naïveté, spending her days at okja’s side. these are charming scenes, reminiscent of “pete’s dragon” (as she tosses real fruit to the animated creature) and “my neighbor totoro” (right down to the way mija naps on the giant beast’s belly), featuring great visual effects work on the creature, designed to look adorably dog - like. early on, bong encourages us not only to fall in love with okja, but also to recognize the animal’s unusual sensitivity and intelligence, inserting a manipulative scene of animal altruism in which okja risks her life to save her owner (when, more likely, both would have ended up dead) .
“that seemed too cartoonish ― i wanted to focus on okja alone, ” the director said, via a translator, referring to the titular super - pig raised blissfully in the south korean countryside by the young mija (ahn seo - hyun) .
unlike pete’s dragon, however, okja sees bong joon - ho deploy that sentimental attachment in service of a quite brutal, and devastating, statement about our attitude towards meat consumption. yes, this is the kind of film that turns people vegan .
auditions are currently underway for a young actress to play the lead role in the story, about the friendship between a girl and an animal named okja. production is slated to begin in korea and new york in late 2016 for a 2017 release .
it' s a testament to bong' s sprawling ambition that okja manages to be so many things at once - - a caustic satire of corporate evil, an intercontinental action / adventure epic, a coming - of - age narrative for the girl .
okja begins with a splendiferous introduction to its title character. who is okja? the ecstatic businesswoman lucy mirando (tilda swinton) is thrilled to tell us, via multimedia presentation, by revealing to the press and her investors a new kind of “super - pig” her global corporation has discovered. a giant, lumbering beast resembling a hippo (though with a more baleful face), this creature is the future of cuisine, lucy explains, and okja is a prized calf sent to a farm in south korea as part of a worldwide competition to find the best environment for her species. there she’ll roam around the mountains for 10 years, munch on the grass, and becoming a loving companion to young mija (ahn seo - hyun), the farmer’s granddaughter .
netflix has two films in competition, “okja” and noah baumbach’s “the meyerowitz stories. ” french exhibitors are angry that the festival accepted films that do not have a theatrical release first, and consider netflix a threat to the established order of large - screen filmgoing .
the film has become a symbol of the streaming giant' s disruption of the traditional film business and caused much debate. netflix plans to release okja online - only in most markets, leading to criticism from this year' s cannes jury president pedro almodovar .
bong joon - ho, the south korean director whose film okja was the subject of much controversy at the cannes film festival last month, has said that he hopes the debate following the film will become a “signal flare” in establishing new rules for similar films .
1. the cinémathèque is now quite literally the gatekeeper to cannes. after a dispute with netflix about the premiere of okja, which didn’t have a theatrical release, the festival is now requiring all feature - length competition entries to release their films in theaters .
best of all, bong never loses his focus on mija and okja. as okja progresses, the point the director is trying to make becomes more obvious, especially as mija wanders into the bowels of the factory - farming system and experiences its truly unnatural horrors. much as with snowpiercer, it sometimes feels like bong is trying to hit a nail on the head with a sledgehammer—he’s successful at getting his message across, but it gets tougher and tougher to absorb. still, there’s something to be said for that intensity. okja doesn’t want to end on the simple grace note of a happy ending, but it’s also not trying to leave the viewer miserable. it’s a sublime tale of the value of humanity, and the horrors we often have to suffer through to hold on to that .
okja is a superpig - one of 12 bred by the sinister miranda corporation (led by ceo nancy miranda - a rare high energy comedic performance by swinton) who is raised in korea by young mija and her grandfather for a decade, whilst they fatten up .
for swinton, a longtime admirer of bong' s films, starring in
snowpiercer
and
okja
( she also served as a co - producer on the latter) allowed her to witness the director' s trademark precision on a more ambitious canvas .
bong also took a jab at the cannes film festival, saying the festival should have sorted out the rule before inviting the okja to screen in competition. last month, french exhibitors were up in arms after the fest selected two netflix titles (okja and the meyerowitz stories) to screen in competition. the festival abruptly changed its rules saying from 2018 it would exclude films which didn’t have a theatrical commitment. france operates an arcane windows system that dictates that movies must wait three years after their theatrical release before hitting a streaming platform .
okja is far from a brief on behalf of vegetarianism—mija’s favorite food, it’s noted in one early scene, is chicken stew—but it leaves you with a vision of the capitalist food chain that’s less than morally appetizing. as bong’s ample perspective makes clear, that food chain isn’t just literal but metaphorical. whether or not mija and the alf succeed in their mission to bug the mirando labs and rescue okja, the problems they’re struggling to address—income inequality, environmental pillage, and corporate malfeasance—will outlast their individual story. if you see okja, and i hope you do, stay for the final credits. it’s not often that a stinger scene pops up at the end of a movie, not to pre - sell the inevitable sequel, but to leave you with something to think, wonder, and worry about .
jake gyllenhaal, who plays a flamboyant tv zoologist in okja, also chimed in on the debate. he concluded that a platform of netflix’s size can only be a good thing for the english - korean - language movie, whose budget is estimated at $ 50 million .
according to okja spc, brad pitt' s plan b entertainment has also come aboard to co - produce the film. the company headed by pitt was behind world war z and 12 years a slave, as well as war machine. netflix invested in the latter .
the company in this case is the fictional mirando corporation, run by rapacious twin sisters lucy and nancy mirando (both played by tilda swinton) and fronted by an aggressive steve irwin - style tv personality (jake gyllenhaal). okja is one of 26 genetically enhanced piglets that mirando sends out to be raised on farms all over the world, then recalls to its new york headquarters years later for inspection, breeding and eventual execution — but not if mija, okja' s caretaker and best friend, has anything to say about it .
based on the details offered by the press release, the project has a very princess mononoke vibe to it, but placed in a more modern setting. described as “a bold, global adventure, ” okja centers on the character mija, “a young girl who must risk everything to prevent a powerful, multi - national company from kidnapping her best friend — a massive animal named ‘okja. ’” bong said in an accompanying statement, “i want to show the beauty that can exist between man and animal, and also the horror between them. ”
but in creating okja’s species as an ecologically sustainable alternative to cattle, has mirando finally reconciled animal agriculture to its ethical and environmental obligations? animal activists in the film – and in wider society – would strenuously disagree. it’s worth noting here that the director is sympathetic to these claims, having become vegan during the filming of okja – and having borrowed much of the film’s visual rhetoric from footage taken by undercover activist documentarians. in order to settle this question, we need to more carefully explore how sustainability functions as an ethical and political ideal .
okja’s anthropomorphized body—capable of hugs, if not resistance—is manufactured to receive the audience’s pity, while the film’s human agents (from farmers, to machine operators, to capitalists and consumers) warrant indifference or scorn. swinton’s mirando can’t seem to find connection—human or otherwise—with anyone. she is too busy crafting a new marketing scheme or signature with which to sign autographs for her carnivorous fans. the meat - eating capitalists, however, are not the only casualties of okja ’s heavy - handed satire. the film’s squad of animal rights activists are likewise presented in two - dimensions as amateurish and self - indulgent. they, too, reveal themselves to be unworthy of sympathy when they craft a scheme to bring down mirando that requires sending okja into the belly of the pork industry, haplessly abetting the super pig’s rape and near slaughter .
spoiler alert (as if clicking on a story with this title wasn’t just asking to be spoiled): mija and okja are reunited at the end of the movie. and they do live happily ever after, but just how they get to that point is absolutely chilling .
steven yeun, jake gyllenhaal, tilda swinton, director bong joon - ho, ahn seo - hyun, lily collins and paul dano attend the
okja
photocall during the 70th annual cannes film festival at palais des festivals on may 19, 2017 in cannes, france .
in truth, paul dano, jake gyllenhaal, tilda swinton, and the rest of the non - korean cast of okja had a low hurdle to clear. it’s steven yeun — speaking english, korean, and konglish — who was the key to bridging the lingual gap .
it sounds like okja is following a similar casting breakdown as bong joon - ho’s 2013 film snowpiercer, which starred swinton, chris evans, song kang - ho, ko ah - sung, jamie bell, octavia spencer, ed harris, alison pill, and john hurt. the lead in that well - received sci - fi flick fell to evans, but with a korean female character in the lead for okja, my money’s on ko ah - sung. she previously starred in bong joon - ho’s acclaimed monster film, the host, along with song kang - ho, who i fully expect to star in okja as well. another strong candidate for the part is doona bae, who also starred in the host but has been a main player in the wachowski siblings’ recent projects like cloud atlas, jupiter ascending, and sense8 .
okja - featurette' production diary' subscribe and click the notification bell here: urltoken subscribe to filmisnow movie trailers: urltoken meet mija, a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi - national company from kidnapping her best friend - a massive animal named okja. some of the best and most funniest movie moments happen behind the scenes. filmisnow movie extras channel gives you the latest and best behind the scenes footage, bloopers, interviews, featurettes, deleted / alternate scenes. we give you the before, during and after that goes into making movies .
“’okja’ will receive an unlimited wide release in south korea on june 29, not just in a few theaters for a limited time, ” said kim woo - taek, ceo of korean distributor next entertainment world. the film will simultaneously be available on netflix’s platform in some 190 countries .
that said, as much as okja has its sobering moments, it’s just as filled with bong joon - ho’s characteristically surreal approach to humour, much of which is derived from seeing a string of highly - acclaimed actors let loose like they’re guest starring on an episode yo gabba gabba! .
bong joon - ho has been making movies for the last 17 years, becoming one of south korea’s most recognizable filmmakers across the world. but his popularity in his home country isn’t going to be enough to get his new movie, the netflix fantasy adventure “ okja, ” into theaters .
as thr reports, netflix isn’t the only production company backing okja as pitt’s plan b pictures will be co - producing as well. here’s what bong joon - ho had to say about partnering up with pitt’s banner, one of the production companies behind world war z and 12 years a slave :
perhaps the only problem with this movie is that practically everyone in it is so despicable that we can' t really root for anyone to win. though co - author ronson told heat vision that okja will convert people to vegetarianism, it' s not as if jay' s anti - meat activists are a sympathetic bunch. plus, mija' s favorite food is chicken soup. the film offers its protagonists no recourse to the law, since mirando has its own security force. and there' s no hope that mirando can be stopped, even if mija succeeds in rescuing okja .
the story centres on the eponymous okja, an animal belonging to a new species that has been genetically engineered to fulfil the developed world’s boundless appetite for meat, while minimising the environmental impact of its production. in the words of ceo lucy mirando (played by the always wonderful tilda swinton) :
even now i still can’t get over snowpiercer, a refreshing piece of sci - fi from south korean filmmaker bong joon ho that debuted in 2013 with incredible performances. three years later, ho has begun filming on his next effort, a film titled okja that reunites him with the transformative tilda swinton .
there remains consternation within the film industry about netflix’s distribution model, with last month’s cannes festival (where okja premiered in competition) becoming the focus of heated debates about “real films” being shown in cinemas, not on television screens. yet who else would have backed such an adventurous movie, which swings between child’s - eye adventure, dystopian slapstick, and poignantly chilling atrocity, and on which bong had final - cut freedom to follow his instincts, no matter how wild or weird? okja deserves to be seen in a cinema, but we have streaming services like netflix to thank for its strange existence .
okja raises as many existential questions as it will vegetarians (the abattoir scenes are pretty tough to swallow) but with standout scenes include battling tranquilliser guns with umbrellas, jake gyllenhaal playing a real life ned flanders and a brilliant use of john denver’s ‘annie’s song’ - this “adult’s pete’s dragon” is quite special .
“it really is a fantastic opportunity for me as a filmmaker, ” bong said in a statement. “for okja, i needed a bigger budget than i had for snowpiercer and also complete creative freedom. netflix offered me the two conditions that are difficult to have in hand simultaneously, ” he said .
the controversy at cannes was due to the fact that neither of netflix’s competition entires, “okja” and noah baumbach’s “the meyerowitz stories, ” had french theatrical release dates. the festival ended up changing its rules to state that any future film that wants to compete at cannes must be released in french theaters .
with a burning sense of injustice only the young can feel, mija refuses to take the loss of okja lying down. embarking on an audacious mission to rescue the beloved beast and bring her home, mija joins forces with a gang of dapper but ethically conflicted animal welfare activists led by jay (paul dano) and k (steve yeun). a superbly staged truck chase through seoul, climaxing with okja smashing up a subterranean shopping mall to the ironic strains of john denver' s sappy pop classic
annie' s song ,
provides one of the film' s set - piece action highlights .
speaking at the press conference for okja, swinton suggested the controversy had been overplayed. “let’s be honest, there are thousands of films at cannes that won’t be screened in a cinema, ” she said. “it’s an enormous and really interesting conversation. as in every matter there is room for everyone. ”
okja is a 2017 action-adventure film directed by bong joon-ho and co-written by bong and jon ronson . the film stars an ensemble cast headed by south korean child actress ahn seo-hyun , alongside hollywood actors tilda swinton , paul dano , steven yeun , lily collins , and jake gyllenhaal . the film competed for the palme d'or in the main competition section at the 2017 cannes film festival . it was released on netflix on june 28 , 2017 . 
okja is a 2017 action-adventure film directed by bong joon-ho and co-written by bong and jon ronson. the film stars an ensemble cast headed by south korean child actress ahn seo-hyun, alongside hollywood actors tilda swinton, paul dano, steven yeun, lily collins, and jake gyllenhaal. the film competed for the palme d'or in the main competition section at the 2017 cannes film festival. it was released on netflix on june 28, 2017.
okja is a 2017 action-adventure film directed by bong joon-ho and co-written by bong and jon ronson. the film stars an ensemble cast headed by south korean child actress ahn seo-hyun, alongside hollywood actors tilda swinton, paul dano, steven yeun, lily collins, and jake gyllenhaal. the film competed for the palme d'or in the main competition section at the 2017 cannes film festival. it was released on netflix on june 28, 2017.