South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho is the latest big name director to reject a traditional distribution deal in favour of an online streaming platform, which is perhaps unsurprising given that his previous film, 2013’s Snowpiercer, didn’t receive so much as a DVD release in the UK.
No such drama concerning his latest, Okja, which is now set for release on 28 June courtesy of Netflix. Billed as a “grand global adventure follows a friendship too big to ignore”, the film concerns a young Korean girl named Mija (Seo-Hyun Ahn) who tries to protect her best friend from being kidnapped by a shady multi-national corporation. Just FYI, the ‘best friend’ in question is a massive animal named Okja.
We’re always excited to see what Bong has been up to, and this part coming-of-ager, part corporate satire has all the right ingredients to be one of the year’s boldest and most original films. Okja also stars Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Lilly Collins and Steven Yeun, and marks the director’s upcoming project, having been co-written by Jon Ronson of Frank and The Men Who Stare at Goats fame.
Watch the first-look teaser above and let us know your thoughts @LWLies
Published 28 Feb 2017
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