In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy girl is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when she discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.
Chuck says:
Straining to walk in Steven Spielberg’s footsteps, Isaiah Saxon tries to replicate the legendary director’s “E.T the Extra-Terrestrial,” with “The Legend of Ochi,” a well-meaning but ultimately tedious examination of alienation and prejudice. Failing to stick the landing where finding the right tone is concerned, the film takes a dour approach rather than a whimsical one, the movie bogged down with a coming-of-age story that never generates the viewer’s sympathy. If nothing else, the film is a marvel to look at, the Romanian and Carpathian Mountain settings a convincing location for the Eden-like home of the titular character but that’s hardly enough to keep us interested in this all-too-familiar tale.
The village of Carpathia has one foot in the present, the other firmly entrenched in a seemingly secure and safe past. Resistant to new ways, they cling to the familiar, superstitions and folk tales still holding sway over many of them.
As a result, Yuri (Helena Zengel) and the other village children have been raised to fear the Ochi. Rarely seen nocturnal beasts, they’ve become a catchall Boogeyman, blamed for everything from vandalism to the death of random livestock. The “threat” they pose has been exaggerated to the point that Yuri’s father and village eccentric, Maxim (Willem Defoe) has been allowed to form a posse of teenage boys to hunt them down. They rarely see the creatures, and when they do, thankfully they’re horrible shots. Yuri has never seen these animals as a threat so when she finds a baby Ochi in one of her father’s traps, instead of doing away with it, she helps it escape and vows to return it to its family.
That Yuri would embark on such a quest is no surprise. What with her mother Dasha (Emily Watson), having left her and her father years earlier, the girl harbors a deep resentment towards her that she’s repeatedly taken out on her father. Her anger and desperation are palpable, mirrored in the way Yuri mothers and cares for the creature in ways she never was.
Of course, Maxim and his boys, including the orphaned Petro (a wasted Finn Wolfhard), set out to find Yuri who has just happened to be rescued by her long-lost momma from a dire situation. While this incredulous piece of plotting is a bit much to swallow, it’s in keeping within the parameters of the fairy tale Saxon is trying to tell.
Unfortunately, his approach is all wrong. There’s a touch of whimsy and wonder in “The Black Stallion,” “The Never-Ending Story,” and other films of the kind Saxon is trying to replicate that’s sorely absent here. Far too grim at times, the film becomes a monotonous slog, Yuri’s perpetual glower and Dasha’s constant condescension draining any potential joy from the story. That Zengel delivers her dialogue in a mumbling monotone doesn’t help engender us to her and causes the viewer to strain to hear key plot points.
As for the Ochi, they’re as cute as any animatronics team can conjure, not quite realistic but passable under the right circumstances. Sometimes convincing, sometimes not, their appearance strains our suspension of disbelief, only adding to difficulty of investing in the film.
And while it’s fun watching Defoe and Watson strain to put this over, in the end “Ochi” is not the story of wonder and redemption Saxon intended. Though its condemnation of toxic masculinity and eco-positive theme are commendable, it lacks the confidence and artistry to pull it off, the end result a noble effort that falls short of its director’s intent.
2 Stars
