Okja
Okja
A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja.
rg9400 reviewedNovember 1, 2024
I was surprised to see such a loaded Hollywood cast for this movie, even though most of them are secondary characters. A lot of them play silly characters, especially Jake Gyllenhaal who is doing his best Buster Bluth impression. On the other hand, Ahn Seo-hyun plays a much more grounded and emotionally-driven character, encapsulating the nature of the movie itself. Bong Joon-ho illustrates how people on both sides of the animal cruelty debate at the heart of this movie are absurd and hypocritical while Mija and Okja just get pushed and manipulated despite both just wanting to be together. The movie can be hard to watch at times, especially in the second half. It creates quite the juxtaposition of themes with the first half feeling a lot more lighthearted, though Bong Joon-ho's comedic touch remains throughout. I continue to remain impressed with how he is able to work in such different genres and stories while maintaining his signature, though I do feel like the silliness of some of the characters could have been toned down a bit in this one.