Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Ahn Seo-hyun, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Daniel Henshall
Intro:
“…reaches for great heights and doesn’t always get there.”
Eleven years ago, Bong Joon-ho released The Host, a monster movie about a deformed amphibian emerging from the deep to wreak havoc in the heart of Seoul. Okja, the story of a genetically modified but sympathetic ‘super-pig’ created by an evil, greedy multinational corporation, is very much the mirror image of that movie, right down to the final shot, which echoes almost exactly that of The Host in conception and symbolism.
Bong, though unconcerned with adherence to any one genre, specialises in intrusions of the random and terrifying into ordinary lives, and the desperate attempts of the individuals involved to reclaim some semblance of normality, against a swirling and confused social backdrop.
Appreciably more global and less insular in vision than Bong’s other work, Okja boasts an eclectic international cast, and structurally combines an assured first half in Korea with a screwball parody of the United States. The film is at its best when it’s the story of a girl and her pig.
The performance by 13-year-old Ahn Seo-hyun is heartfelt and beguiling, and the super-pig is utterly convincing, both in its detail and the way it physically inhabits spaces. It helps to have the great cinematographer Darius Khondji capture the character of Seoul in the early chase scenes, particularly the close quarters of an underground mall and a heist on the Han River (is this another reference to The Host?). As various factions fight to claim Okja, Bong navigates his way through difficult tonal shifts, buoyed by a handful of distinctive moments (mostly involving Ahn interacting with the pig). Interestingly, Bong opts for a brighter colour scheme than his often sombre previous work, perhaps suggesting the grotesquery of capitalism as pageant.
The key problem of the film is that it’s too cerebral to be truly thrilling, yet lacks the depth to resonate as a think-piece (the environmental parable that Bong gestures towards doesn’t really bear thinking about too closely). Dialogue and performances tend towards the mannered – Jake Gyllenhaal is the worst offender, going irritatingly over the top – while secondary characters are not fully rounded, especially the activists from the Animal Liberation Front. And the abruptness of the climax brings the film lurching to a halt.
Okja reaches for great heights and doesn’t always get there. But major films with this kind of imagination and inventiveness are rare enough that you grant Bong his indulgences.
