E.T. set a really high bar for children’s fantasy films in my youth. And I’ve pretty much aged out of the genre. So The Legend of Ochi didn’t do much for me. But it did seem to strike a chord with the PG target demo (I’d say 8-12 year olds) at the screening, as well as adults who favor films laced with quirk, ala Wes Anderson. The film has a throwback vibe and opts for looks, sounds and feels in lieu of extensive dialogue to connect with the audience and advance the story of a teen navigating loss, loneliness, isolation, and family dysfunction.
The story centers around an angsty teenager named Yuri (Helena Zengel) who lives with her peculiar and comically cantankerous father Maxim (Willem Dafoe) in a remote village on the fictional island of Carpathia, which is also home to reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. Maxim likes to don a viking outfit and lead a group of misfit boys from the village, including his adopted son Petro (Finn Wolfhard), on nighttime hunts for the fearsome, furry ochi. (Fortunately, the guys are not very good at hunting- and the film is PG). One evening, Yuri comes across a wounded baby ochi that’s been caught in a trap. She frees the little ochi, tends to its wounds, and runs away from home on a quest to reunite the ochi with its family. The adventure provides a chance for Yuri to learn new ways to communicate, build trust with the ochi, and reconnect with her own family.
In the production notes for the film, writer-director Isaiah Saxon expresses his interest in “nonverbal filmmaking and world-building as storytelling.” With The Legend of Ochi— Saxon’s first feature film– he certainly delivers on that. And the baby ochi (a puppet with an animatronic head) is quite cute.
The Legend of Ochi opens nationwide on April 25. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG.