The Mamas And Papas ‘Dedicated To The One I Love’

I’m back baby! Lemsip is a wonderful drug, it really is. Last night I watched what is probably one of the best films I’ve seen all year; the Netflix exclusive ‘Okja’, whose release has been widely anticipated since its arrival at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Bong Joon Ho, the film centres around a young girl called Mija and her genetically modified ‘superpig’ Okja, which she has raised for ten years in the remote South Korean mountains. Created in a lab by agrichemical corporation Mirando, Okja is around the size of a small elephant, intelligent, affectionate, and importantly, ‘tastes fucking good’. When the corporation comes to South Korea to take Okja away to serve her up to hungry customers, Mija embarks on an international adventure to save her friend, aided by the zealous and often clumsy Animal Liberation Front. Charming, funny, and devastating in equal measure, this film had me in fits of laughter, and in fits of sobs, as it launched a scathing examination on the meat industry. Don’t confuse this film with an evangelical vegan propaganda piece though; our main character hunts fish, the director is a meat-eater, and the film often pokes fun at overzealous animal lovers. At the risk of sounding clichéd, this film will make you laugh and it will make you cry – which is why today’s Track Of The Day is slightly unorthodox (in the sense it is exactly 50 years too old to be classed as recent). ‘Dedicated To The One I Love‘ by The Mamas And Papas, was used as the theme song for the film, and it couldn’t be more fitting. We all know how hard it is to be away from the one you love, even if that ‘one’ is not of the human persuasion. So, Ethel, this one is for you, and I’ll see you when I get home. Enjoy.