Okja, Bong Joon-Ho’s first movie since Snowpiercer, is definitely shrouded in mystery. Is it a horror film, or a fairy tale — or hell, is it both? What is Tilda Swinton’s character up to? And what the hell does Okja actually look like? Well, the last question gets a sort-of answer, with the latest poster for Netflix’s upcoming film.
The film is about a young girl name Mija, who takes on a large corporation in order to save her friend, the titular Okja. As you can see, the animal kind of looks like a mix of a pig, a hippo, and an elephant, at least based on the silhouette. It’s unclear whether it’s a genetic hybrid, created for mass consumption, or simply a unique monster found in the woods. Given the film’s themes of genetic engineering, as well as the poster’s clever placement of a factory on the creature’s back, I’m guessing the former.
This poster comes right on the tail of a tenuous week for the Netflix film. Earlier this week, the Cannes Film Festival considered yanking Okja from the competition, because it had not been shown in French movie theatres. The film festival later decided to keep Ojka, as shown by the “official selection” moniker on the film’s poster, but issued a rule that all future Cannes competitors have to get a theatrical release in France.
The ruling could mean trouble for Netflix and similar online distributors, which normally don’t show their movies in theatres (Netflix did a limited release for Beasts of No Nation to qualify if for some US awards, and Amazon’s Manchester by the Sea did well at the Oscars, partially thanks to its theatrical release). Ojka comes out June 28.
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