Saturday
Friday night’s movie fix went about as I expected. Since I am not an animal lover, or hater, I reluctantly added Okja (2017) to my Netflix list. It’s the story of a GMO company donating a piglet to 26 different countries and sponsoring a contest to pick the best ten years hence. All will be slaughtered to create food. Atop a mountain in South Korea, a girl in her early teens has grown up with the title character, which has grown to epic proportions. She has no idea of its fate. While her grandad takes her to visit the graves of her parents, the animal is taken away. The little stalwart figures out what is afoot and sets out to recover her beloved, the trail leading to Seoul, which reminded me of Frisco, then New York. She eventually teams with a group of animal rights activists. It is a fable that requires the suspension of disbelief. I was reminded of both Mighty Joe Young (1949) and King Kong (1933). What I enjoyed most was Darius Khondji’s lush cinematography and the special effects. There is a bit of profanity and some violence, each mild by modern standards. As is so often the case, the child in the lead, Seo-hyun Ahn, is fantastic. Born in 2004, she had piled up hundreds of appearances before this film, mostly in TV. Byun Hee-Bong, active since 2000, is excellent as grandpa. Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast as the twin sociopath GMO CEOs. Paul Dano, Giancarlo Esposito and Jake Gyllenhaal, who I didn’t even recognize, lend their skills in support. Bong Joon Ho directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Ronson. There are 17 titles under his name at IMDb in the category of Director, 18 in Writer. He is responsible for two films I consider great: Mother (2009) and Parasite (2019). I also like Snowpiercer (2013) but am not as fond of The Host (2006) as many are. 125,000+ users at IMDb have rated Okja, forging to a consensus of 7.3 on a scale of ten, too high in my opinion. Then again, I stuck with it for the entire two hours, so it obviously has something going for it. Is there a liberal bias? Yes, although it is tweaked mildly on a couple of occasions. Surprisingly, the picture bombed at the box office. Made on a budget estimated at $50 million, it returned only a bit more than two million worldwide. Photo from Google Images:
RIP John Brockington, 74, NYC high school football legend at Thomas Jefferson H.S., Ohio St. Hall of Famer, three-time NFL All-Pro. He died March 31st and it slipped my mind until today. We did not meet on the playing field. Instead, our great defense contained his speedy replacement, Jesse Claire. We lost 0–6 on a play-action pass, our only defeat in ’66. As a senior at OSU, Brockington rushed for 1142 yards, at the time the school’s single season record. Drafted by the Packers in the first round, the ninth pick overall, he was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in ’71. He was First-team All-Pro twice, Second-team twice. He had more than 1000 yards rushing each of his first three seasons. He then went into decline, perhaps done in by his bulldozing style. He finished with 5186 yards and 30 TDs. He spent his final season with the Chiefs, retiring in ’77. He is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame. In 2002 he received a kidney transplant and established the John Brockington Foundation, providing free screenings, educational material, and food vouchers for those on dialysis. Well done, Sir. Facts from Wiki, photo from GI:
Headline from nypost.com: “Media pounces on Clarence Thomas’ rich friend, ignores Dems doing same thing.” Why would anyone be surprised by selective outrage in this age?
Circumstances forced the floating book shop to its last resort location on this beautiful, brisk day, and the results were predictable. My thanks to the sweet elderly woman who bought Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, and to the gentleman who purchased The Wonderful World of Italy, a travel guide. At least the return wasn’t zero, and there were no incoming. The inventory is just about at its maximum at present, the old Hyundai crammed.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts
Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
