In Okja, a young girl and granddaughter of a farmer named Mija (Ahn Seo Hyun) spends her time caring for a giant super-pig named Okja, created by the Mirando Corporation. Suddenly, she finds her companion reclaimed by Mondo and taken to New York by Mirando CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) and embarks upon a rescue mission to bring back her friend.
The film is a heartfelt story of the love of a young girl and her animal companion that mixes humor and emotion well while examining a topical theme regarding modern capitalism and corporate culture. Mirando pretends to be at the forefront of new progressive corporate culture, creating all the right buzzwords and hype around their standards, but in the end are just using them to cloak their true nefarious intentions and stealthily foist them upon an unsuspecting public.
Despite the overarching theme, the heart of Okja is the relationship between the super-pig and Mija, which the young actress Hyun pulls off with great aplomb. In the midst of the tug and pull between two groups with competing agendas, Mija just wanted her family back, and Hyun’s acting convinces the audience of this and puts those emotions on full display.
Image: Netflix
