First impressions of The Legend of Ochi

What mash-up of movies will you find in this odd, surprising fantasy? Is it Gremlins meets Into the West? E.T. meets The Neverending Story? Princess Mononoke meets The Secret of Roan Inish?

Full disclosure: I might be rating The Legend of Ochi too highly. Seattle’s Regal Thornton Stadium 16 cineplex advertised the film’s start time for 7:20 PM, but then they forgot to serve the crowd what they’d ordered. We sat there until past 7:40 in a theater where nothing was happening. When the staff realized they’d forgotten all about us, they made us sit through 20 minutes of commercials and trailers anyway. We’d been sitting there for almost half of the film’s run time before it finally started. I suspect that the relief I felt once I saw the words The Legend of Ochi on the screen may have boosted my enjoyment of the film.

Yuri listens to an Ochi solo. [Image: A24 Trailer]

But then again, I might not be rating Isaiah Saxon’s feature-film debut highly enough.

Time will tell how history treats this modest movie’s achievements. It’s possible that it will feel like less than the sum of its Spielberg-loving parts. First impressions? Well… I went in with low expectations. The trailers made it seem too formulaic, too familiar, and too sentimental. And I’ve been frustrated by the ever-presence of Willem Dafoe lately — he’s been showing up in several movies every year for a while now.

But what I discovered was a stronger film than I’d anticipated — pleasantly idiosyncratic, prone to surprising me with unexpected turns, and featuring playfully funny performances from both Dafoe and Emily Watson, who have been two of my favorite actors for many years now.

So, here are Fourteen Reasons to see The Legend of Ochi, and to take the whole family.

Oh… and one caution.

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Reason One:

First, let’s consider the premise (avoiding spoilers).