The Legend of Ochi (2025)
Directed by: Isaiah Saxon
Premise: In a remote eastern European village, the community hunts the ochi, a species of primate. A teenage girl (Helena Zengel) befriends one of the ochi and escorts the animal to safety.
What Works: The Legend of Ochi plays as a fusion of a Wes Anderson film and the fantasy movies of the 1980s, especially those produced by Steven Spielberg and Jim Henson. The pitch is very specific; The Legend of Ochi is fundamentally realistic but with a fairytale quality. The world of this film is self-contained and it is terrifically detailed and convincing. As a throwback to the movies of the 1980s, The Legend of Ochi has an organic look. Almost everything in the film appears practical especially the fanciful primate creatures. The ochi are completely convincing and convey intelligence and emotion. The storytelling accomplishes a lot through the visuals. There’s little exposition. The movie doesn’t need it because the filmmakers embed that information into the action and the details of the story world. The rich background is also evident in the performances. Helena Zengel plays the lead as the teenager rebelling against her father and escorting the animal through the wilderness. Willem Dafoe is also quite good as the father. Although he’s tough, the father also has moments of confusion and compassion. Finn Wolfhard appears in a supporting role that’s underwritten but Wolfhard adds nonverbal details that reveal his character. The Legend of Ochi is very well shot. The imagery is lush with vibrant colors and the action is framed in interesting ways. The music by David Longstreth is unusual and contributes to the film’s unique tone.
What Doesn’t: The Legend of Ochi aspires to Spielbergian entertainment such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and more recent films such as How to Train Your Dragon. Those movies mixed a sense of wonder with grounded stories about families, culminating in feel good moments of reconciliation between parents and children. The filmmakers of The Legend of Ochi don’t quite get there. The movie establishes a conflict between the teenager and her separated parents with the intention of working toward a new shared understanding. The trouble is, The Legend of Ochi never reaches the emotional payoff that it’s clearly seeking. The teenager hasn’t really proven anything to her parents nor have they done anything to meaningfully come around to see her point of view. As a result, the end of The Legend of Ochi is unconvincing and its big emotional climax falls flat.
Bottom Line: The Legend of Ochi comes up short in delivering the feelgood emotional experience that it’s clearly trying to be but there is a lot to admire in this film especially in its technical qualities. This is an impressive feature film debut from director Isaiah Saxon.
Episode: #1047 (May 11, 2025)