I thought immediately in the introduction that they were establishing an *other* cinematic universe, similar to, say, a Wes Anderson cinematic universe. Simple things like Swinton’s character using expletives in a press conference. It wasn’t simply fiction.
The second thing I noted was that the CGI was so much better than I was expecting. Sure, there were spots where it was pretty bad, but the interaction between the CGI and the human characters worked surprisingly well. It wasn’t completely convincing but it also wasn’t obviously distracting.
I’m usually a big Gyllenhall fan but I’m not a fan of his portrayal here. It seems absurdist to me.
I loved the woman afraid she’d be killed but still smiles for a selfie with Okja running her down.
It’s a nice little parable concerned with ideas that often oversimplify issues such as GMOs, animal cruelty, and environmentalism. If you accept that and go on a “free Okja” kind of ride, it kinda worked for me.
I did appreciate that there wasn’t some change of heart moment for the Mirandos. The only thing that saved Okja was a better profit. As someone who was an environmental studies major a long time ago, my views were unpopular among my peers. I believed that, while advocacy was important, that business was concerned with the bottom line. The focus needs to be on a level playing field, which almost always values environmentalism.
It was a happy ending for Mija and Okja but I liked that they left it as a not-so-happy ending for countless other super pigs.
Good flick. Would recommend.
) Gonna give his other English language film Snowpiercer another shout out too for those who've not seen it and liked this, excellent stuff with Tilda Swinton playing a similar role to her's in Okja (I pronouce it ock-ya btw)