Because of the sincere worry about motherhood, Ninjababy is a gripping and successful drama ★★★★☆

All too well twenty-something Rakel (Kristine Kujath Thorp) doesn’t pay attention when she’s in ninja baby goes on aikido lessons with her best friend (Tora Christine Dietrichson). In the teacher she recognizes her one-time bed partner from a few weeks ago, a sympathetic guest who smells irresistibly delicious of butter. She can barely concentrate when he does the roll movement ukemi (“falling technique”) explains. “There’s something beautiful about being able to turn over a situation where you almost turn on your face and land gracefully on your feet so that you take the upper hand in the situation.”

Rakel can do something ukemi in this successful adaptation of Inga Sætre’s award-winning graphic novel fallteknikk (2011). She discovers that she is pregnant, especially from aikido trainer Mos (Nader Khademi). At least she thinks so. Her baby has been on the way for six months at the abortion clinic. An abortion is out of the question. And that while Rakel wanted to become a forest ranger and cartoonist, among other things, and has absolutely no mother urge.

The Norwegian writer and director Yngvild Sve Flikke draws inspiration from the original novel and uses well-dosed, comic-like animations (by Sætre himself) to make Rakel’s turbulent inner world visible. The most important find is the title character, conceived by co-screenwriter Johan Fasting: a masked baby male who frees himself from Rakel’s drawing paper and from that moment on not only speaks for her unwanted child, but also acts as her conscience.

The ninja baby watches and judges when Rakel calls free-range Pik Jesus (Arthur Berning) to account because this whistling narcissist must almost certainly be the father, or if she wants to persuade her sister Mie (Silya Nymoen) to adopt the child. The illustrated case forms a beautiful duo with actress Thorp, who gives her character a sympathetic pricklyness and never smoothes out Rakel’s struggle.

Gradually wins ninja baby to seriousness, without losing its fresh energy. It is also clever how Flikke plays with expectations. In a film like this, the heroine usually learns to identify with her upcoming motherhood, and the motley crew around her turns into an alternative family. ninja baby can easily walk like this, and will get you as a spectator to wish for a shared future for Rakel and her baby: see the comical and intense scene in which everyone involved in Rakel’s house is arguing and just then the whole situation takes off.

But ninja baby It doesn’t just go for simple or socially desirable solutions, which is exactly what makes the film so heartfelt and poignant. Including that very rebellious ninja boy for his age.