Daniel Henshall | Cinema Parrot Disco

Okja (2017)

Directed by Bong Joon-ho

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Ahn Seo-hyun, Byun Hee-bong, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yoon Je-moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Choi Woo-shik, Giancarlo Esposito, Jake Gyllenhaal

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
Meet Mija, a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive animal named Okja.

My Opinion:

Well, this was an odd one. But I really liked the sound of it and got suckered into watching it on Netflix thanks to all the hype. What a massive disappointment. Okja isn’t awful but it also isn’t anything all that special. If it hadn’t been for the godawful & annoying characters played by Tilda Swinton (who I normally like) and by Jake Gyllenhaal (who I can take or leave), I may have enjoyed this film more. The “big name” stars were the biggest distraction and what took away from an otherwise intriguing story & setup. And I’ve been desperate to see Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer for ages now since it never got a proper UK release for some odd reason. Now I’m wondering if I’m not missing much. If it’s anything like Okja, I’m no longer in a rush to see it. And I still crave a good Nando’s so Okja clearly failed me in its efforts.

The good: I liked the parts of the film set in South Korea with Okja the “super pig” & the young girl, Mija. Mija helped her grandfather raise Okja from a baby super pig to a big, huge, yummy, adult super pig. Okja, as a character, was done pretty well. Hubby moaned about some dodgy CGI or whatever but I don’t tend to notice that unless it’s really bad or just too obvious & distracting. However, I didn’t connect with Okja or any of the human characters as much as I was hoping & as much as I think was intended. The girl, the grandfather & Okja herself are easily the most likable characters (well, the only likable ones) but, as I said, the other characters are so godawful that I think it took away from what at first seemed like it might be a promising film. I liked the relationship between Okja & the girl and, at first, was almost hoping I might get a My Neighbor Totoro vibe from the movie because of the whole “young girl & strange creature form a friendship” type thing. Unfortunately….

The bad: The film then moves to America and goes totally (pig)tits-up while Swinton’s & Gyllenhaal’s characters grow more & more annoying. They completely ruined the movie. I’m not necessarily blaming them as I assume they performed these roles as written & directed. I just don’t understand why these characters were written/directed/performed this way. Was the film going for a dark humor thing that just didn’t work? I think it’s what made the film’s message fail to have any sort of impact on me.

The message: Yes, this movie has an extremely obvious & blatant message (which I’m sure you’ll have figured out by now if you’ve not yet seen it). My concern beforehand was that it would be heavy-handed and preachy, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I don’t watch movies to be told how I should think/behave/feel and to have a filmmaker’s values shoved down my throat. So, going into Okja knowing this may happen, I thought the message was handled just fine. Heavy-handed? Maybe. But it was done in a way I didn’t find offensive and I didn’t feel like I was being forced to feel a certain way. It’s a pretty unique story and it felt like the movie’s focus was on telling a good story more than on telling humanity how to behave. I have no issue with a movie having a message: I have an issue with how that message comes across. I tried to explain this when reviewing the movie Zootopia (which I didn’t like). I want a movie to entertain me. I want a good story. If the effort is first put into making the story good, any message the movie may have will then come across much more naturally and will be more likely to make people think. I don’t want to watch a “message” that’s then had a weak story written around it.

Summary: I’m going to wrap this up since I think I’m making a pig’s ear of explaining my feelings on this film… I did appreciate Okja’s originality. I think the message is handled in the correct way despite its blatancy. The story is told well, the character of Okja is unique & certainly memorable, the relationship between Okja & the girl is enjoyable, and the film gets off to a pretty strong start while it’s just Okja, Mija & the grandfather in the South Korean countryside. Oh – I’ve not even mentioned Paul Dano & his group of activists! They were okay (it may be the first time I didn’t slightly hate and wasn’t thoroughly creeped out by Dano). BUT! The film’s positives are pretty much entirely undone by the outrageous silliness of Swinton’s & especially Gyllenhaal’s obnoxious characters. I pretty much hated the entire second half of the film, which was disappointing after liking the start. Luckily, I can at least say that I liked the very end just fine. This helped save the movie a tiny bit. Overall, Okja feels like two films and like it’s not sure what it wants to be or how to get where it’s going. It’s a shame as I thought it had some good potential. I’m thinking I prefer South Korean horror. Train To Busan, The Wailing, The Host, A Tale Of Two Sisters… I recommend all of these before Okja.

My Rating: 6/10

**I posted a couple of polls yesterday where you can vote for which movie(s) I should review next. You can go & vote HERE. The one currently winning is Star Trek Beyond. What? Why?! It sucked. Here’s my review: Star Trek Beyond sucked. I fell asleep for about an hour somewhere in the middle. Briefly woke up & said “Is that Idris Elba?” then zonked out again. Woke up for the final ten minutes & decided I couldn’t be arsed to ever watch the hour or so that I missed. The end. Rating: 4.5/10. 😉

The Babadook (2014)

Directed by Jennifer Kent

Starring:
Essie Davis
Noah Wiseman
Daniel Henshall
Hayley McElhinney
Barbara West
Ben Winspear

Running time: 94 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.

My Opinion:

Last year I was pretty positive in my review of The Conjuring mostly, I think, because I was SO desperate for a good horror movie to ever actually be made again and that one was about the closest we’ve had to a decent American horror movie in years. It wasn’t perfect but at least it was almost a return to the good ‘ol days of horror movies that didn’t rely solely on cheap jump scares and/or excessive gore. Well, The Babadook is more the sort of horror movie I’ve desperately waited years for. It’s an Australian film so it’s still “foreign” which means that, once again, only foreign countries seem capable of making decent horror films these days. Time to catch up, America! You can do better than Paranormal Activity 12 & inferior remakes of foreign horror films.

I know The Babadook won’t appeal to the more casual cinemagoer but I highly recommend it to those looking for a good old-fashioned psychological horror. The acting in this is FANTASTIC. Essie Davis is especially great as the mother and you can really feel her pure exhaustion in being a single mother dealing with a six-year-old boy who seems to have some deep psychological issues and is starting to show signs of violent behavior. Noah Wiseman as the boy is also very good, especially considering that it appears this is the only thing he’s really been in. He has a great look and can be terrifying one second and so adorably sweet the next. These two really are brilliant and help to make this such a good film.

As for the story itself, it’s fairly straightforward stuff and not necessarily something we’ve never ever seen before. However, it’s how a story is presented that can make or break a horror movie. As I mentioned above, this isn’t one of those movies that relies on cheap jump scares and there’s also no gore (a bit of violence and blood, as to be expected, but nothing over the top). Some of the things that happen are pretty disturbing, especially as such a young child is involved. There’s nothing “silly” here – I saw this in a fairly full cinema and there were none of the usual laughs you hear when you watch things like Insidious and something that’s meant to be scary happens but it just ends up looking ridiculous. The slowly building tension is quite intense and the underlying theme is genuinely terrifying. I’m being quite vague as I don’t want to spoil this in any way for those who like the sound of this one. This is psychological terror. It HAS been done before but this film does it all in a very effective way.

I can’t end this without making mention of the BOOK in this movie. If you’ve read anything about the movie or watched the trailer (which I’m going to include at the end of this review as the film still isn’t that widely known), you’ll know that the Mister Babadook character comes from a children’s book the mother reads to the son. This book is bloody horrifying! I think there may be an actual book made of it?? I’m not sure but, if there is, it will NOT be on my Christmas list. My only complaint when it comes to this film is that I wish we’d seen even more of the book. Or… Maybe not…

Summary:

THIS is a good psychological horror film. It’s disturbing and terrifying and makes you think instead of jump. I wouldn’t say it’s the scariest horror movie I’ve seen but it’s certainly one that will stay there in the back of your mind and you’ll think about it every now & then as you’re drifting off to sleep and worrying about the things in life that scare you. I do think this is one that older viewers will probably appreciate more than the young, especially those who are parents as it will play on their fears more than anyone else’s. And, once again, I have to say that the two main actors are magnificent – it was wonderful seeing such quality acting in a “horror” movie.

My Rating: 8/10

Official UK trailer:

About that book – Apparently they WILL be releasing it. I’ve just received the below tweets from The Babadook. Nooooooo!!!!!!

@tableninemutant We are releasing that book for unsuspecting victims to get themselves a copy. Stay tuned….

— The Babadook (@TheBabadook) October 27, 2014