It’s always refreshing when films choose practical effects over CGI and The Legend of Ochi has thankfully chosen the former route. The new A24 film just released a first look that gives us a glimpse behind-the-scenes of its fantasy world and how it brings its mystical creatures, the ochi, to life.
Set on the remote island of Carpathia, a farm girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) lives with her father (Willem Dafoe) and is raised to fear mysterious creatures known as ochi. When Yuri takes in a wounded baby ochi that’s been left behind, she sets out to reunite it with its family.
In the first look, we get close ups with the baby ochi puppet, often coordinated by multiple people in either green screen or black. Incredibly complex with multiple independently-controlled parts, it’s easy to see how even cast and crew could consider the puppet as a living thing. It’s a return to the world of 1980s puppetry, where we got film icons like the gremlins and E.T.
See the impressive puppetry in the first look below and catch The Legend of Ochi in theaters on April 25.
