Rearing super pigs is a project by Mirando Corporation to revolutionize the livestock industry, and Okja is one of the resultant miraculous creature. She grows up as a pet under the care of Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) whom has no knowledge about any of the background business scheme behind Okja's existence, and this 2017 action-adventure satire by Bong Joon-ho aims to tell the story of this young girl's attempt at rescuing her belonging from the hands of a multinational company.
First of all, Okja is extremely cute albeit being an obvious computer generated imagery being. The writing and direction does a good job in developing the relationship between Mija and Okja. Furthermore, the scenes help build the characters. For example, we know Okja is smart and she can solve problems during the cliff-drop scene. Mija on the other hand is physically resilient, tough and will go the extra mile to bring Okja back home. But, there are a lot of barriers in achieving the goal. Mija doesn't speak English nor does she have any money to travel from Korea to America. How is she going to make it, is the question of the day.
The introduction of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) to help Mija from start to finish might seem like a forced convenience, but as the runtime goes on, you'll see how without them, Mija stands no chance in retrieving Okja. This is not to say Mija doesn't get to be the active protagonist for the major parts as she does everything under her best ability to reclaim her pet. And the plot does find an organic way to transport Mija to the States as part of the evil corporation's effort to reduce their image damage.
There are certain scenes / sequences which are truly powerful, namely Mija breaking the piggy bank and struggling with her grandfather before running away to Seoul, truck chase with ALF sabotage resulting in Okja causing massive destruction in an underground mall, K's (Steven Yeun) mistranslation that causes him a massive blow by Jay (Paul Dano) and the entire climax festival where Okja is saved from Black Chalk are done really well! Okja's forced mating, meat extraction and Mija rescuing her from the slaughterhouse are absolutely scary! A couple of pigs sending their piglet home with Okja is heartbreaking to say the least.
Technicality wise, Darius Khondji's cinematography is beautiful! The color palette is fresh and Jung Jae-il's musical strings are minimal. Black box to study Okja's health status and record live feed within the wretched laboratory is a solid idea. It's understandable that Okja is a satire, but some of the performances are too over-the-top, especially Jake Gyllenhaal's Johnny.