In that rare blend of fairy tales, fantasy, folk horror, and monster movies, the directing debut from music video veteran Isaiah Saxon, The Legend of Ochi, introduces us to a perpetually sad and shy, but hopeful, young girl named Yuri (German actress Helena Zengel, News of the World) who is raised in a remote village on the island of Carpathia.
Like most people in the region, she is taught never to go outside after dark because when the sun goes down, reclusive and highly dangerous forest creatures named Ochi roam the woods, attacking and eating any live thing they find. Some believe these creatures are pure myth, but a local man (and Yuri's father) named Maxim (Willem Dafoe) commands a small army of children (including the oldest, Petro, played by a nearly mute Finn Wolfhard) to occasionally go out and hunt Ochi.
On one such campaign, Yuri discovers a baby Ochi left behind by its pack. She hides it in her backpack and brings him home, determined to set out and return the creature to its family, whom she believes are not actually dangerous, just protective and defensive against these humans out to kill them. Their journey is perilous, but they become quite close along the way, and Yuri learns many lessons about courage, friendship, and protecting the natural world.
From what it looks like, the Ochi (at least the baby one) is brought to life by puppetry and animatronics, and the realness of the creature adds so much to the overall beauty and success of the film. Their behavior seems ape-like (especially the way they swing from tree to tree and hiss when challenged), but their appearance is more fantastical than that. During Yuri’s adventure, she runs into her birth mother (Emily Watson), who abandoned the family years earlier, mostly because her beliefs about nature conflicted deeply with Maxim’s. She’s able to teach her daughter than she can communicate with the Ochi (in lovely whistling tones).
It should come as no surprise (or maybe it will, since this film comes courtesy of A24) that The Legend of Ochi is PG rated, but don’t let that discourage you from seeing it. This feels like a movie that folks like David Lowery (when he’s in family-entertainment mode) or the late Jim Henson might have made at one time. The baby Ochi is adorable and so lifelike that it’s nearly impossible not to be pulled into this touching partnership.
As much as the film leans into its pro-environmental message, it doesn’t overwhelm the very personal story being told throughout, both between Yuri and the Ochi, as well as Yuri and her parents. Filmmaker Saxon asks his audience to open up their hearts and minds perhaps a little bit more than they do on a regular basis, and the results are quite astonishing, even when things get a bit too sentimental. Credit Zengel’s perfectly understated performance for keeping things grounded and believable, even amidst all of the film’s fantasy elements.
The film is now in theaters.