That’ll do, pig
BONG JOON-HO on why his Criterion-approved giant-hog movie deserves a second look
BEFORE PARASITE, THERE was a pig. Two years before Bong Joon-ho became an unlikely household name with Parasite’s unprecedented commercial, critical and Academy-Award-winning success, the Korean filmmaker made one of the most idiosyncratic films of his career with Okja. Given it’s a CV which has also included an apocalyptic future-train (Snowpiercer) and a sea-monster that kidnaps children (The Host), that’s pretty darn idiosyncratic. Released on Netflix in 2017, Bong’s sixth film was a fable-ish tale of a 13-year-old girl named Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and her ride-or-die best friend named Okja, a giant, genetically modified super-pig. It is a strange, funny, exciting, profound cinematic experience — and like many films in Netflix’s vast catalogue, may not have enjoyed the whole hog of exposure at the time.
BFFs Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) and Okja the giant pig having fun on their adventures.
Now, that humble porker is finally being given another shot at stardom, earning a prestigious release with the Criterion Collection. “It is only when I see the Blu-ray or DVD on the bookshelf in my house that I feel like the film is finally complete,” says Director Bong, “and now that Okja is coming out onto a 4K Blu-ray I feel like the film is finally complete.” It’s the closing of a long and especially personal loop for the director, who was directly involved in the release, and who still holds the film’s themes of animal rights and respect for the natural world close to his heart. Speaking about the film for the first time in years, Bong makes his case here for why Okja deserves a re-evaluation. Yes, there’s much more to this film than meets the sty.