The Legend of Ochi

by Mike McGranaghan

A great fantasy movie can make you feel like a kid again. It can bring back the sense of awe that tends to slip further and further from our grasp as we get older. The Legend of Ochi had that effect on me. It tells a simple, gentle, meaningful story that’s accentuated by some of the most gorgeous visuals you’ll see onscreen this year. For 96 minutes, I was whisked away to another place and treated to a magical adventure.

The setting is a small Carpathian village. Locals live in fear of Ochi, furry creatures that dwell in the forest. Maxim (Willem Dafoe) is a villager who takes it upon himself to train young males, including right-hand man Petro (Finn Wolfhard), to trap and kill the Ochi. His daughter Yuri (News of the World’s Helena Zengel) tags along for one such mission, during which she comes upon a wounded baby Ochi. Feeling empathetic toward the being, who looks like a monkey with big Yoda ears and a blue face, she takes it back to her house, where she treats its wounds. Then she decides to run away and return the Ochi to its family. In the process, she encounters her long-missing mother Dasha (Emily Watson).

Obviously, there are plot similarities between The Legend of Ochi and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Both deal with the bond between a child and an otherworldly creature who has been separated from its pack. The general template may be the same, but writer/director Isaiah Saxon adds plenty of his own ideas. One of them, which I will not spoil, involves how the Ochi communicate with each other and how Yuri learns to speak their language. It paves the way for a final scene that gets you the happy kind of choked up.

Humor is recurring in the film. Dafoe gets hearty laughs from Maxim’s self-seriousness. (He tends to dress in armor, despite not really needing to.) Yuri and Baby Ochi have a hilarious misadventure in a supermarket during another scene. It is impossible not to smile during these and other moments. The comedic elements are warm and charming, plus refreshingly free of the potty gags a lot of movies about unusual creatures rely on.

The Legend of Ochi is kid-friendly. It is not, however, solely aimed at kids. Saxon makes a concerted effort to create a tale that will have all-ages appeal. Visually, he brings the same level of detail to this film that Ridley Scott brought to Legend and J.A. Bayona brought to A Monster Calls. The foreign locations, sometimes aided by CGI, have a mystical quality that makes you want to not blink for fear of missing something. At times, images look like a painting come to life. Every single shot is absolutely resplendent.

The same goes for the design of the Ochi. I sat there wondering how the beings were made. They look too sophisticated to be puppets, yet they don’t have that artificial vibe computer-generated characters often do. It was therefore surprising to discover, during the end credits, that the baby Ochi was indeed accomplished through sophisticated puppetry. The difference that makes can’t be understated. The infant looks authentic and, just as importantly, interacts credibly with Zengel, allowing their characters’ bond to be felt powerfully by the viewer.

All the human actors do fine work, and Evan Prosofsky’s lush cinematography is a treat. Visual and filmmaking techniques used in The Legend of Ochi serve the story first and foremost. Watching the journey Yuri and the baby take reminds us of how important compassion and decency are in an often-troubled world. This is a wonderful movie with a message that will totally enchant you.

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