The more commercialized movies become, the rarer it is to find a film that feels alive.

 

From its breathtaking Transylvanian landscapes to its small, intimate moments between a young girl and her fantastical creature, The Legend of Ochi’s Amblin-esque magic captures childlike imagination and adventure. It’s wonderfully weird in the same way as The NeverEnding Story and aims to be as heartfelt as Gremlins and E.T., even if it never quite harnesses Spielberg’s magic touch. Though it never reaches the same heights as a Spielberg film, the attempts are admirable, welcomed, and embraced.

 

The Legend of Ochi reeks with writer-director Isaiah Saxon’s, as well as the rest of the cast and crew’s passion and hard work, focusing on practical effects such as puppetry, gorilla suits, location filming, and matte paintings. The amount of attention put into the fidelity found on screen is visible on some fronts and invisible in many others. When researching for this review, I was shocked to find the movie hadn’t been shot on film, but instead digitally with vintage lenses similar to those used in Casablanca. Even a technical film viewer such as myself had plenty to fill myself with during my screening, my eyes staring in awe at something as simple as halations, rarely seen in any modern digital filmmaking since it’s a texture best left to film.

 

What sews the technical prowess of the visuals is the storytelling, which I’m inclined to agree with other critics that the dialogue is the weakest link. The visuals tell the story so efficiently that I think it would have been more impactful as a silent film. If you’ve seen any of the movies that inspired Ochi, you know exactly where it’s going, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It creates a throughline of familiarity to grasp onto within the sea of experimental visuals, making it easy for any viewer to keep track of what’s happening, feeling the motion of the story beats as they try to hold themselves from the verge of tears in its momentous finale.

 

The Legend of Ochi knows exactly what it wants to be and isn’t shy or insecure about it. It wants to be a movie about families finding their bond, as well as a commentary of masculinity through the vessel of Willem Dafoe and the group of boy soldiers he leads. It’s simple, yet effective, hence why I think this movie could have been stronger without dialogue. If A24 wants to release a score-only version of The Legend of Ochi, then I’m all for it, because even though it never reaches the quality of Best Picture, AFI 100, or even Sight & Sound, The Legend of Ochi is alive. Its heart beats for all it’s worth, taking tender care of its viewer to bring them along a mesmerizing journey that leads to a fulfilling ending.

And, sometimes, that’s all a movie needs to be.