In the middle
Brilliantly shot by cinematographer Darius Khondji, the scenes inside a meat factory and what can only be described as a pig concentration camp are so murkily intense they make Se7en look like an episode of Teletubbies. The ALF youngsters take a beating, too. For every slick and/or whimsical moment, there’s a bruising, nay, pulverising, one.
Gyllenhaal’s OTT performance can be hard to stomach. He’s known for hardcore commitment (see Nightcrawler) but here he’s revved up in an altogether different way. At one point he squeals with glee like a demented cross between Miss Piggy and Kermit. That scene actually works. We have a sense of a man who’s been faking effervescent lunacy for so long he can no longer “do” sane.
Dano’s performance is more grounded — icily unpredictable and warmly serene, all in the blink of a droopy eye. Don’t leave before the credits end, by the way — he has a few more surprises up his sleeve. Other curveballs include a tense truck chase worthy of The Wages of Fear and lots of swearing.
Put these elements together and what you have is a thriller with the power to grip children, a d u l t s , Ko re a n s , Westerners, c arnivore s, ve gans, blockbuster addicts and art house connoisseurs.
Bong’s script was turned down by all the major studios. He could have made it on the cheap but the end product wouldn’t have been half as good. Netflix offered him a proper budget ($50million) and respect (Bong had final cut).
Many film-makers and critics see the streaming service as a threat. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival Pedro Almodóvar declared that he would die fighting for “the hypnosis of the large screen for the viewer”. What a twit. For one thing, lots of people have big TV screens these days. For another, why get hung up on inches? Surely it’s better that lots of people see a clever movie on a smallish screen than a few see it on a huge one? No British children under 15 can watch Okja in the cinema but they’ll be free to watch it at home. Given the company’s track record, that’s cause for celebration.
Actually, in the UK, audiences have a choice (from Wednesday Okja will be showing at Curzon cinemas). It’s worth getting off your butt for but, either way, Bong’s slick and slippery offering is a game-changer. Call it Netflix’s first great film. Call it, simply, great.
The fact that it’s getting so much attention is good news for film-lovers and food-lovers (and pigs). In Okja a billionaire says, “If it’s cheap, people will eat it.” The rich know a lot, but maybe we’ve got better taste than they think.