‘The Legend of Ochi’ REVIEW: Lights Amidst the Fog
‘The Legend of Ochi’ REVIEW: Lights Amidst the Fog
PICTURE 1: Yuri (Helena Zangel) and her companion Ochi // still from the official trailer
One fact to bring up to surprise the distribution company’s (divisively) loyal fanbase: A24 has never released an overtly family-friendly film. Of course, knowing its gradual pivot into becoming a major player not just in media distribution but popular culture (as seen in their emphasis on brand recognition, including a recently announced launching of their own music label), it's not surprising that this subtle opening would be covered up.
To those concerned on whether this might come off as a cynical move merely in accordance with the prior information above, this was spurned by what A24 viewed as a compelling vision that urged the ever-trusting studio to give it the greenlight. The Legend of Ochi truly comes off as a natural brainchild of veteran music video director and co-founder of animation studio Encyclopedia Pictura, Isaiah Saxon, with both the experience of years helming visually eccentric projects such as the music videos for Björk’s Wanderlust and Grizzly Bear’s Knife, and the feverous zest of a director looking to make a mark on their first feature, a venture that has took him and his creative team more than a decade to bear fruit. Appropriately, these qualities are inevitably made manifest in the film proper, for better or worse.
Set within a village and its adjacencies to the Carpathian mountains, The Legend of Ochi is set within a world where creatures called the Ochi, who communicate through musical sound waves, exist under oppression due to myths and rumors that paint them as dangerous. Young girl Yuri (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), finds herself disillusioned father Maxim’s (Willem Dafoe, Nosferatu) own proclivities and machismo, taking the village children under his wing to undergo nightly hunts against the Ochi. Maxim blames the Ochi for having taken Yuri’s mother away (Emily Watson, Punch Drunk Love), but Yuri’s frustration grows seeing the transparent deflection away from their messy separation.
During a walk through the mountains, Yuri chances upon a loose Ochi who has stuck on a bear trap. After setting it free, she eventually grows an emotional connection with the creature, and sets upon a personal journey to return it home. All the while, members of Yuri’s immediate family, including adopted brother Petro (Finn Wolfhard, Hell of a Summer), will find themselves grappling with their own personal hang ups and beliefs, in relation to these outcast musical creatures.
PICTURE 2: Dasha (Emily Watson) overlooking a beautiful-looking mountain // still from the official trailer
The Legend of Ochi takes its cues from older adventure films that aimed to capture a sense of wonder that awed younger audiences. Films such as The Neverending Story and E.T. come to mind, not just in how the film lays down its central concepts, but its primary setting too. On some level, this half-leaning on nostalgia is baked into the subtext of the script, as one of the film’s central thematic thread beyond forming connections through the breaking of prejudice is the weight of the past and further structures that embolden it (ie. machismo), and how reconciling with its destructive effects opens a path to healing.
Well, at least that’s what the film would like to deep-dive into in theory. In practice, while it does convey these meaning messages through its fantasy world effectively enough to create emotional investment — to the point that I welled up a little bit by the final act through the strength of both its constructed feeling and wondrous image-making — Ochi doesn’t really further develop its core to the point of concrete character development or a wider perspective of its world.
It's a fascinating yet equally concerning paradox wherein the scope of the film is quite small-scale and intimate within a tight 90-minute runtime, yet we lack a true grasp on the inner machinations of its cast beyond their plot and thematic utility. It’s not as if the film talks down to its audience — the methodical, atmospheric establishing its cinematic backbone, it's just that the structure limitations of the screenplay inhibit what it could’ve potentially embodied.
All of this is unfortunate though since, on the visual side, the movie is as composed, patient, and lush as it could be, befitting of Saxon's predisposition to letting the visuals speak rather than the dialogue. The film is shot mostly on location in the mountains (with some use of matte paintings for backgrounds), and the crisp photography makes the location's dreamy color palette pop. This, alongside the uses of slow pans, aerial drone shots, and wide shots within the film's methodical pace creates a peculiar, yet welcome hypnotic mood.
The creature effects are free from the usual necessitated use of CGI. Like the shooting of location, Saxon keeps it physical and tangible through the use of animatronics and puppetry. It does a lot to really help sell the investment into the Ochi as the main driving (and very cute) narrative force, and helps add weight to its interaction with the actors, who in spite of the broad material they are given with, imbue their roles with humanity. Special shoutout to Paul “The Birdman” Manalatos, who Saxon individually sought out to provide voicework off of YouTube for the Ochi, and he creates some beautiful sounds befitting of their method of communication.
PICTURE 3: The main companion Ochi taking a peak out of Yuri’s bag in her room // still from the official trailer
The Legend of Ochi is a lovingly crafted riff on classic fantasy adventure films, one whose intimate foggy mountain atmosphere gives weight to rather broad-brush storytelling. It hints at the fringes of a truly provoking exploration on how prejudice and toxic masculinity gets in the way of true connection, restricted by breadth lacking to follow up. Though I can't help but feel as if there was a lost foundation here that would have produced something special, otherwise it's a promising narrative feature-length debut of a veteran stylist who I can't wait to build on this film's strengths. Again, may I emphasize: those Ochi are very precious, they don't deserve any hate at all.
The Legend of Ochi is now showing in Philippine cinemas through CreaZion Studios.
