Jake Gyllenhaal I: Okja 🐷
In movie news: 'Hustlers' makes it rain
👋 Happy Monday! Hope you had a fun weekend.
This week’s theme is movies starring Jake Gyllenhaal. One of the most fascinating things about his career — and why he’s the perfect subject for this newsletter — is he’s never done the same thing twice. While the risks he takes don’t always pay off — *cough*Velvet Buzzsaw*cough* — they keep his filmography fresh and diverse.
Okay, here’s day 1️⃣. ICYMI, I include movie-related news at the bottom of every newsletter.
Today’s recommendation: Okja
STREAMING ON NETFLIX
What it’s about: The Mirando Corporation led by CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) announces that they’ve bred a new species that they’re dubbing a “super pig.” They send the pigs out to 26 different farmers to find the best way to raise them. One of those farmers is Mija’s (Ahn Seo-hyun) grandfather. The young girl forges a bond with their super pig who they name Okja. So, when the Mirando Corporation and their hired animal “expert” Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) take Okja away, Mija goes on a globe-trotting adventure to save her friend.
Why it’s great: To try and classify Okja would be a disservice to the movie. It’s as one of a kind of a film as they come — and that’s its greatest virtue. For this movie to work, it has to march to the beat of its own drum. That beat is a wonderfully unconventional movie that’s sometimes satire, sometimes dark comedy, but all heart.
And like any great Bong Joon-ho movie — and there are a lot of them — the biggest success is its characters. From Tilda Swinton’s wonderfully camp Lucy Mirando to Paul Dano’s cool and calm animal right activist Jay to Ahn Seo-hyun’s quiet but tough Mija to Okja herself, just like the movie’s style they’re wonderfully off-kilter and colorful, making them a delight to watch.
The key players:
🎬 Bong Joon-ho
🖋 Bong Joon-ho & Jon Ronson
🎭 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
The details: ⏳ 120 minutes // 🇰🇷 South Korea // 📺 Trailer // 📝 My review
Fun fact: Okja’s face is based off of a manatee (a.k.a. my favorite animal).
Don’t have Netflix? Okja is a Netflix exclusive, so it isn’t available to buy or rent. Sorry, friends.
In movie news: Hustlers 👠 makes it rain
💸 Lorene Scafaria’s comedy-drama Hustlers blew past expectations collecting more than $33 million at the box office this weekend finishing second behind It Chapter Two.
My take: This is yet another reminder that diversity in front of and behind the camera equals box office success. Plus, this bodes well for Jennifer Lopez’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar campaign. You can read my rave review here.
🐰 Over the weekend, Taika Waititi’s anti-hate satire Jojo Rabbit won the People’s Choice Award, the top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.
My take: Since 2012, every winner of this prize went on to be at least nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Whether or not it’ll be enough to overcome mixed reviews is up for imagination.
That’s all for today. Thank you for being here!
Have a great week,
Karl (@karl_delo)
P.S. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes 🍅. You can see my profile with all my reviews here.