Okja Review: 6 Ups & 3 Downs
Another winner for Netflix.
If you've got a Netflix account, you don't need to travel miles and miles to your nearest art-house cinema at great cost to check out Bong Joon-ho's (The Host, Snowpiercer) latest movie, Okja: you can stream it from the comfort of your bed at no added cost. Isn't technology grand?
Okja premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May to largely positive reviews, in spite of the festival's own protests that a Netflix-distributed movie has no place in the Cannes lineup, and is for the most part a delightfully weird, affecting adventure sure to stoke the imaginations of the director's loyal band of fans.
It won't be for everyone, but for those looking for a left-field offering like pretty much nothing else available on the streaming platform, you absolutely owe it to yourself to give this one a chance.
Downs...
3. It's Undeniably Heavy-Handed
Much like Bong Joon-ho's other aforementioned movies, Okja doesn't have any pretense to subtlety, and is about as sly as a sledgehammer when it comes to criticising the meat trade and American Big Business in particular.
Thankfully Joon-ho's argument is well-formed and laced with satirical jabs at both sides of the argument, but it's still abundantly clear where his own ideology lies, to the point that even some who fundamentally agree with him may find his approach rather on-the-nose.
What the central themes and message lack in overall complexity it can be argued they compensate for with sheer audacious style, though you might still occasionally find yourself eye-rolling at just how thickly it's all laid on.