A Very Weird Video Promoting Bong Joon-Ho 'Okja': Won't Anyone Think About The Pigs?
Bless Netflix for giving South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho $50 million to make his latest movie, Okja. The marketing materials, including the teaser, are promising what looks like another uncompromised movie from the Snowpiercer and The Host director. A new video featuring CEO of Mirando Corporation, Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton), is the exact type of weirdness and hilarity we want to see from Swinton and Joon-ho.
Below, in a new Okja video, Mirando raises questions about some serious topics, like pigs and dreams.
Okja isn't a monster movie, as Joon-ho has explained. The titular creature is Mija's (Seo-Hyun Ahn) best friend. Her and Okja have been together for ten years. After the creature is captured and taken away by the Mirando Corporation, Mija will travel to New York to find her close pal. During her trip, she may meet a few characters played by Steven Yeun, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Giancarlo Esposito, Lily Collins, and Shirley Henderson.
Mija will also cross paths with the "image obsessed and self-promoting" Lucy Mirando, who's seriously worried about the pigs, everybody:
Swinton's fake smile, the awkward hand placement, and the false sincerity – all so enjoyable. Mirando's motivation to let pigs sleep peacefully before the slaughter sure tell us enough about the character. Considering she's pleading with viewers to think about how pigs dream, the CEO is probably going to have some unique motivations in Plan B and Joon-ho's film.
Here's the official synopsis for Okja:
For 10 idyllic years, young Mija (An Seo Hyun) has been caretaker and constant companion to Okja—a massive animal and an even bigger friend—at her home in the mountains of South Korea. But that changes when the family-owned multinational conglomerate Mirando Corporation takes Okja for themselves and transports her to New York, where image obsessed and self-promoting CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) has big plans for Mija's dearest friend.
With no particular plan but single-minded in intent, Mija sets out on a rescue mission, but her already daunting journey quickly becomes more complicated when she crosses paths with disparate groups of capitalists, demonstrators and consumers, each battling to control the fate of Okja...while all Mija wants to do is bring her friend home.
Deftly blending genres, humor, poignancy and drama, Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, The Host) begins with the gentlest of premises—the bond between man and animal—and ultimately creates a distinct and layered vision of the world that addresses the animal inside us all.
Okja is available to stream June 28.