Oh man, Okja is going to turn me into a vegetarian, isn't it? From the visionary mind of brilliant filmmaker Bong Joon-ho comes a Netflix original about a girl and her super pig, and the potentially corrupt meat-products executives who... wait. Super pigs? Just watch:
So, what do we have here with Okja? The title refers to the name given to the super pig adopted by young Mija (Seo-Hyun Ahn). It's a girl-and-her-pet movie. Until the execs at Mirando reveal that Okja is meant to be a revolutionary new food source. These super pigs provide a ton of meat. They produce every little environmentally-detrimental carbons. And, as Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) points out, they taste fucking great.
Don't fear, though, because the trailer also hints at the presence of a pro-Okja task force, led by Paul Dano, who will rebel against the wicked Mirando Corp stooges and bring Okja the super pig back to Mija. Just, not without a fight.
It all sounds very sweet. And strange. Maybe like a Pete's Dragon, for a new generation. But this cast. This cast! Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Giancarlo Esposito, Steven Yeun, Shirley Henderson -- all under the watchful eye of Bong Joon-ho. As commenters under the trailer on the Netflix page joked, it's like the Breaking Bad and Walking Dead team up movie we never knew that we needed, until it arrived.
Now that it's here, though, we get the Full Tilda:
And Jake Gyllenhaal, looking like this, for some reason:
The groundbreaking news on Okja? It's coming to Netflix, and not to theaters. The latest from Bong Joon-ho, who dazzled audiences with envelope-pushing masterpieces like Snowpiercer and The Host, is entrusting Okja to the streaming service -- yet another massive win for Netflix as it establishes itself as a viable platform for big-ticket event films from visionary storytellers.
Okja actually will be making its debut at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, and is the centerpiece of an ongoing debate about films that stream on Netflix instead of coming to theaters. Industry experts, via THR, are taking sides over film festivals like Cannes giving slots (and a glaring spotlight) to films that go to Netflix. But films are films, right? Look for Okja reviews following the May 19 screening. And look for it on Netflix on June 28. Then head here for more on Netflix's TV and Movie premiere schedule.
