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The Legend of Ochi Conveys a Greater Mood than its Story Can Live Up To

It is understated how much good practical puppetry is a powerful thing in movies. It’s why we remember Yoda and E.T. as fondly as we do -these fully present characters  who have a clear spark of soul to them and bring out real magic in the performers they are cast in relief to. The titular creature in Isaiah Saxon’s The Legend of Ochi conveys something of that same appeal, if the movie around it can’t quite live up. And it feels so nice to see that spirit of craft alive in some corner of the modern movie industry at least.
Of course I’m being a little unfair -as there is quite a popular example of this in recent years if you look to that Grogu (“Baby Yoda”) character from Star Wars’ The Mandalorian. Especially considering this appears to be the character the Ochi most readily is a mirror of. It is a small, very cute puppet with big ears, an unquenchable curiosity, and a magic power of sorts who bonds with a human companion determined to save it from dangerous people. It has purple skin surrounded by bright orange fur, but it is not so distinct a creation as it might otherwise appear. It is still enough though to draw your attention through an otherwise pretty formulaic story.
So is the setting though -a fictitious island called Carpathia, home to what appears to be a semi-isolated society of Euro-American extract. It is a beautiful, ancient environment -filmed naturally in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania- that is home to a mysterious and vicious breed of primates called the Ochi, who are feared and hunted by the locals as a significant custom of their culture. Maxim (Willem Dafoe) has a particularly Ahab-like obsession with these creatures, having apparently lost his son to them. His young daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel) though, has a fondness for seemingly all living creatures, and when she finds an injured baby Ochi, she is taken to care for it and return it to its family.
The broad strokes of this premise as well as its very European cultural traits (Dafoe uses much the same accent he did in Nosferatu), impresses a very How to Train Your Dragon sensibility to the film, though of course with far less populist inclinations. Indeed, the aesthetics appear to be where Saxon, a music video director making his feature debut, is most concentrated in setting the film apart. He shoots the already rich and evocative environment beautifully, it comes off as equal parts grand and whimsical. If this were A24’s attempt at a kids’ movie -which I don’t think it works as for a few reasons, it certainly relates a world of some warmth. And Saxon places the Ochi within it in a very naturalistic, appealing way. It’s not just the look of these creatures that lends them believability, but their sense of belonging in the space, and that is captured very well -especially when we do reach their somewhat realistic home valley. Their signature call, that Yuri finds herself able to do as well weaves into this too, though not exactly to the best effect, as its high-pitch in a theatre is not a pleasant thing to hear.
Saxon is very sparing with any world-building though, and doesn’t much delve into the people of this island, who they are and where they come from. Already implied to be an insular community, we don’t see many of them -simply the boys who Maxim has recruited into the hunt, including a favourite adopted son Petro (Finn Wolfhard), and no other adults in their immediate circle. Outside culture does reach them, via some artifacts in Yuri’s bedroom, but there is no sense of what that relationship is. This alienation from the real modern world is present too in the language which, especially as spoken by Maxim, is highly grandiloquent, in spite of the very humble surroundings. They are a petrie dish people, with only Yuri and her estranged mother Dasha (Emily Watson) residing outside of that.
For Yuri, it could be connected to some vaguely mystical link to the land and the Ochi more generally -much like that between E.T. and Elliott. She can communicate as them if not with them, and there is the suggestion of something more to the bond she forms with the baby beyond the typical sentiment of a child and their animal pairing. Still, that is indeed what the movie is -and it strays very little from formula as far as that is concerned. There is something amusing in seeing Zengel, who was introduced as the child companion to Tom Hanks being convoyed to safety in The News of the World, graduating to fulfilling that guardian role for a different young helpless companion here; but beyond that she doesn't much sustain the narrative or foster a lot of investment in her journey aside from factors of social and psychological conditioning in her environment that are more driven by Maxim than her. Even an interaction with Dasha designed to flesh out a little more family nuance -she lost her hand in Maxim’s paranoia during an Ochi encounter- does little to broaden Yuri’s character or give her a new perspective.
Yet on some level Saxon isn’t concerned with this -and after all few of the models this movie is derived from have very interesting leads either (unless you can tell me anything about the kid from The Great Panda Adventure). His at least characterizes its world and journey in a unique way. Maxim’s hunting outfit, that is like a mix of an old football uniform with gladiatorial gear, speaks enough to the peculiarity of this quest. And some of its overtures on family do very much pay off. Petro sadly remains mostly under-emphasized throughout, but there is a curious culmination to that rift between Yuri and Maxim in the end, with Dasha playing a role too. The Ochi however remain the chief figures, the baby especially; and I found myself entirely impressed by their presence in the climax and how successful  their effect was, both practically and narratively.
The music by David Longstreth it should also be noted is a major evocative part of the film -Saxon’s music video background likely informing his care in how it is employed here. With a folk twang that resonates an eerie atmosphere of unknown nature yet comes too with great lulls of comfort, it is overwhelming in a mostly welcome fashion throughout, lending the movie a gravitas its script can’t compensate for.
Without, The Legend of Ochi would be a dull affair in spite of its creative impressions and visuals. It doesn’t quite hit the mark, is probably too slow and odd for the children whom these kind of movies have historically been marketed at, and its lack of some definitive digressions from formula keeps it from standing out the way it should. But the Ochi are wonderful and their land enticing, even as their legend falls short.

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