Ninjababy

Winner of four Amanda Awards (the Norwegian ‘Oscars’) as well as the European Film Award for Best Comedy, Yngvild Sve Flikke’s hilariously imaginative feature gives us pregnant twentysomething Rakel (a superb Kristine Kujath Thorp) who is shocked to find out she’s six months gone and unable therefore to have an abortion. It’s as if the foetus has been quietly lurking in the shadows, like a ninja… Outstandingly witty as well as very physical, the comedy here touches all bases, and all of it is carried out magnificently by Thorp as Rakel, a would-be cartoonist whose caricature of her ‘ninjababy’ comes to sarcastic life. ‘[A] hilarious and sneakily brilliant comedy… It’s a film that really offers an honest look at a woman’s life, from clumsy sex to Rakel’s joggers that 57 washes ago might have held some shape. There’s real insight and clarity in Thorp’s performance too—likable and warm, without trying desperately hard.’—Cath Clarke, The Guardian