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‘The Legend Of Ochi’ Review: Willem Dafoe In Wondrous Mystical Fantasy Adventure That Feels Like A Twisted ‘E.T.’ In A Good Way – Sundance Film Festival

A review of 'The Legend Of Ochi', a wondrous family fantasy adventure which creates a unique world of its own in the vein of 'E.T.' and other classics

It centers on Yuri (played by German actress Helena Zengel, so wonderful opposite Tom Hanks in News Of The World), born into a family as the only child of Dasha ( Emily Watson) who leaves them to go tend sheep in a remote part of the small village on Carpathia where they live, and the eccentric and militaristic father Maxim ( Willem Dafoe) who had longed for a son and teaches her the code of this place which is to fear the elusive primate creatures who roam the land known as the Ochis. Along with Petra ( Finn Wolfhard), his adopted son and Yuri’s half brother, plus his band of young ragtag soldiers (think the Lost Boys) he sets out on hunting expeditions to kill the Ochis. Shot largely in Romania, in the rural areas of Transylvania, cinematographer Evan Prosofsky’s camera work expertly blends with all of Saxon’s filmmaking tools to create a visual palette caught somewhere between reality and otherworldly.

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