Review: ‘The Legend of Ochi' is a rich, intense fairy tale with a human touch
You'll find out in the first 10 minutes whether 'The Legend of Ochi' is working for you. Me? I was in by minute five, and stayed there, even with some bumps along the way. Movies steeped in fantasy and existing or newly hatched folklore can whip up anything and everything, usually digitally, which often erases half of the potential visual magic. Anything's possible, but not everything's advisable.
The writer-director Isaiah Saxon, making a strong feature debut here, knows this and proves it. While 'The Legend of Ochi' mixes digital effects, robotics, puppetry and a host of practical, non-digital design and manipulation for the creatures of the title, Saxon goes easy on the digital ingredients. An art school grad, he hand-painted 200 or so matte paintings, the digital background illusions of an earlier filmmaking time, as part of the overall geographic imaginings.
On the mountainous island of Carpathia, somewhere in the Black Sea, the teenage Yuri (Helena Zengel) is being raised by her father Maxim (Willem Dafoe), a credulous, lonely man who lives to hunt the ochi. These predators, the people say, have been killing sheep and even a human or two. Maxim leads a group of young boys on their first hunt, including his adopted son, Petro (Finn Wolfhard of 'Stranger Things'), with Yuri in tow, in the film's nighttime prologue.
Yuri's instincts tell her this is all wrong. Also, she's had it with being stuck in the gendered margins of how boys and girls are prioritized in her corner of the world. Driven by a longing to find her mother (Emily Watson), who fled the family years earlier, the pensive, ever-watchful girl runs away. Long story short: girl meets ochi; frees ochi from a nasty metal trap set by humans; and the film becomes a sweet, sad, fraught and well-tested friendship across species, as Yuri comes to learn the ochi's sung (or, rather, chirped) language, an emotion-based mode of communication.
Filmed in the Transylvanian mountains of Romania, Saxon and company capture a pretty stunning array of valleys, caves, rivers and urban areas. The movie is tightly packed with incident, maybe overpacked, but Saxon's fairy tale is an intense, lived-in experience, its centuries-old folkloric atmosphere dotted with all the usual intrusive elements of progress: cars, grunge metal, supermarkets (in one memorable scene, Yuri makes an eventful trip to the grocery store with her newfound ochi hiding in her backpack).
There are clear bits and ideas derived from 1970s and '80s titles, chiefly 'E.T.,' 'Gremlins' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' Writer-director Saxon acknoweldges another influence: the great, undervalued 'The Black Stallion.' There's an unusually fine musical score from David Longstreth, as eccentric in its woodwind-forward instrumentation as it is effective. And as Yuri, longing for a family unit to call her own, Zengel couldn't be better. When Dafoe's foolish, preoccupied father mutters a line from his runaway daughter's note — 'I am strong and cool / I don't believe what you say about anything / Don't look for me, OK? / Thanks, bye' — we hear Dafoe, of course, but also the shadow voice of Zengel. A terrific talent, she's a key reason why 'The Legend of Ochi' takes us somewhere worth the trip.
'The Legend of Ochi' — 3.5 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG (for violent content, a bloody image, smoking, thematic elements and some language)
Running time: 1:35
How to watch: Premieres in theaters April 25
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Originally Published: April 24, 2025 at 1:11 PM CDT
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Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business Insider
The stars of 'Stranger Things,' ranked by success
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CNN
3 days ago
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Patrick Schwarzenegger is glad that viewers' loathing for Saxon on ‘White Lotus' evolved into love
Patrick Schwarzenegger is still coming off the 'whirlwind of emotions' that was the making of 'The White Lotus' Season 3. The actor, who is taking part in a new campaign for Venmo with costar Aimee Lou Wood, spoke to CNN recently about how his perspective has changed since the release of the show, which saw his character Saxon go from loathsome finance bro to a vulnerable young man who realized he has a lot to learn. 'It was definitely a learning experience for me, being on this show,' Schwarzenegger said, adding that the viewership and engaged fandom – famous for its memes and fan theories -– was an experience 'that I've been never been part of.' As for his character – a 'grandiose alpha male that comes in grabbing his crotch and walking around naked,' in Schwarzenegger's words – he acknowledged that there were indeed some parallels between himself and who he portrayed, particularly in how they each were received by the viewing public over the course of the season. 'I think people did not like the character, and what happened was, a lot of people did not know who I was,' he said. '(They would) come up with their preconceived ideas of who I am or how I got the role' based, of course, on his famous last name. As the Mike White-created show went on, viewers learned that there was a lot more to Saxon than met the eye, and it was delivered via Schwarzenegger's capable acting chops – family name notwithstanding. 'It's a mistake to think you know a character that's in a Mike White show on day 1, or on week 2 or week 3,' he shared. Schwarzenegger called the show's creator 'very smart' in how he writes his characters, and 'how they change.' Or don't. 'It was fun for me to watch the hysteria of it all and how it evolved over time,' he said. And while he wasn't surprised that viewers received his character rather coolly at first, he was moved by how much they eventually warmed up to him. 'But I also did not know to what extent people were going to like Saxon,' he said. 'It was a very big roller coaster ride of people despising him to (him) becoming one of the most liked and enjoyed characters by the end, because he had a place to go to.' The same could be said of Schwarzenegger himself, who is slated to appear opposite Al Pacino in the feature 'Billy Knight,' according to his IMDb page. (The project is in post-production with no public release date set). The actor's famous father, however, might have some thoughts on any further on-screen nudity. In their conversation for Variety's 'Actors on Actors,' he once again sounded off on the topic spurred by Saxon's nude scene in the 'White Lotus' season 3 premiere, but this time, in a lovingly embarrassing that way only a father could. 'I'm watching your show, and I'm watching your butt sticking out there, and all of a sudden, I see the weenie,' the elder Schwarzenegger said. His son – and the Internet – howled with laughter. Rollercoaster, indeed.
CNN
3 days ago
- CNN
Patrick Schwarzenegger is glad that viewers' loathing for Saxon on ‘White Lotus' evolved into love
Patrick Schwarzenegger is still coming off the 'whirlwind of emotions' that was the making of 'The White Lotus' Season 3. The actor, who is taking part in a new campaign for Venmo with costar Aimee Lou Wood, spoke to CNN recently about how his perspective has changed since the release of the show, which saw his character Saxon go from loathsome finance bro to a vulnerable young man who realized he has a lot to learn. 'It was definitely a learning experience for me, being on this show,' Schwarzenegger said, adding that the viewership and engaged fandom – famous for its memes and fan theories -– was an experience 'that I've been never been part of.' As for his character – a 'grandiose alpha male that comes in grabbing his crotch and walking around naked,' in Schwarzenegger's words – he acknowledged that there were indeed some parallels between himself and who he portrayed, particularly in how they each were received by the viewing public over the course of the season. 'I think people did not like the character, and what happened was, a lot of people did not know who I was,' he said. '(They would) come up with their preconceived ideas of who I am or how I got the role' based, of course, on his famous last name. As the Mike White-created show went on, viewers learned that there was a lot more to Saxon than met the eye, and it was delivered via Schwarzenegger's capable acting chops – family name notwithstanding. 'It's a mistake to think you know a character that's in a Mike White show on day 1, or on week 2 or week 3,' he shared. Schwarzenegger called the show's creator 'very smart' in how he writes his characters, and 'how they change.' Or don't. 'It was fun for me to watch the hysteria of it all and how it evolved over time,' he said. And while he wasn't surprised that viewers received his character rather coolly at first, he was moved by how much they eventually warmed up to him. 'But I also did not know to what extent people were going to like Saxon,' he said. 'It was a very big roller coaster ride of people despising him to (him) becoming one of the most liked and enjoyed characters by the end, because he had a place to go to.' The same could be said of Schwarzenegger himself, who is slated to appear opposite Al Pacino in the feature 'Billy Knight,' according to his IMDb page. (The project is in post-production with no public release date set). The actor's famous father, however, might have some thoughts on any further on-screen nudity. In their conversation for Variety's 'Actors on Actors,' he once again sounded off on the topic spurred by Saxon's nude scene in the 'White Lotus' season 3 premiere, but this time, in a lovingly embarrassing that way only a father could. 'I'm watching your show, and I'm watching your butt sticking out there, and all of a sudden, I see the weenie,' the elder Schwarzenegger said. His son – and the Internet – howled with laughter. Rollercoaster, indeed.
