Okja (2017)

Okja has a very niche plot, but it is a story that can easily resonate with everyone. It'll forever be known as the super pig (slash hippo) movie. It's a risk that pays off handsomely for Netflix, which has already conquered the medium of television. This has the potential to be Netflix's big break in the original narrative film side of the business. Beasts of No Nation was very good but it never really broke through. Okja, though shunned by the cinematic tradition at Cannes, is the future. Netflix is desperate to catch Amazon, already with a Best Picture Oscar nomination for last year's Manchester by the Sea. What makes this film so important? It demonstrates to auteur filmmakers around the world that Netflix is willing to take risks. It will produce artistic films that no one else will. And if not with Okja, it eventually will strike a Best Picture nomination with this model. And leave it for crazy Bong Joon-ho to lead the way for Netflix.

The acting in Okja is quite over the top. I'm looking at you, Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm not sure how I feel about it. He's really insane. But somehow, the over exaggeration fits because it has dramatic and funny moments. Because his foil is a slightly less crazy Tilda Swinton. And the more subdued crazy of Paul Dano. The little girl, Ahn Seo-hyun is very good too as she embarks on a quest to rescue her super pig Okja. I guess that requires a little explanation. The genetically modified super pigs are produced by an evil company, given to farmers around the world to be bred for 10 years, then to be put into food production.  It's a charming simultaneously disturbing story with a moral. That moral will inspire people to become a vegetarian, or at least to not eat pig, after all Mija's favorite food is chicken. It's not a totally anti-meat movie per se, but there is a moral that you can discern for yourself. 

Train to Busan (Busan Haeng) (2016)

I didn't have many expectations for this Korean blockbuster, but I was pleasantly surprised. I don't usually like horror films, but this was very well done. And I appreciated that most scenes took place in the daytime in the light. You don't need the dark to scare people. I don't know if you can even really classify it as a horror because I don't think the objective was to scare so much as entertain. It tells a story that happens to have scary elements. But the daytime atmosphere does actually make the fear more bearable.

There were some nice shots that I noticed. Specifically there is one in a bathroom on the train where we see the protagonist on the phone. We see his reflection in the mirror, but we don't know that until the camera pans over to the real deal and continues panning to an opposite mirror. It is a neat trick. There is also a significant death scene that is not viewed directly, but rather the shot is of a shadow falling off the train. To film this, the dolly must have been moving as fast as the train in unison. Or special effects I suppose, but it is a cool shot.

I especially appreciated the Asian cast. Obviously in a Korean movie, they cast Korean actors. But I think the characters were more relatable because they were Asian. It is absolutely true that seeing people that look like you on the big screen, and receive such applause and praise, has a real effect on the psyche. If there were more Asian-American actors represented on screen, this would give a major confidence boost to this group of people. Currently, this issue has come to light with the casting of Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell and Tilda Swinton as an old Chinese man. A campaign called #starringjohncho puts John Cho's face in recognizable movie posters featuring white male leads. Why not cast John Cho? Diversity is a real issue of importance in film representation.

As I have been told by Wanda, Gong Yoo is a big deal in Korea. And he was pretty good. The little girl that played his daughter though was excellent. And in the room, the girl was really milking the camera. Watching this in the big room with the cast right next to us was very cool. The atmosphere really got me into the movie when everyone simultaneously cheered the hero or gasped in fear.