Each of these films focuses on the relationships we have with our parents: one from the perspective of the parents and the other from the perspective of the children. Both lay out how complicated things can be when you love someone as family, but maybe don’t want to be around them or even know them.
Ninjababy ( 2021 | Norway | 103 minutes | Yngvild Sve Flikke)
A young woman, Rakel, who could barely take care of herself discovers she’s pregnant when a friend forces a test on her. Mistaking her recent one night stand, Mos, for the father, she tells him and he responds with the caring and sweet manner you’d hope anyone would in that situation. When she goes in for an abortion with him in tow, they’re in for another big surprise: she’s not 8 weeks in to her pregnancy, but 26. Backtracking to find the real father (cheekily dubbed Dick Jesus, discovering she has a crush on Mos, searching her deepest feelings about being a mother, and figuring out what to do next all make for a very stressful, heartfelt, and honest look at life as a parent.
She’s a sketch artist, so throughout the film she draws her little ninja baby (who “is hiding in her uterus until it’s time to sneak out”, hence the title) and talks to it regularly to work through the emotions she can’t seem to handle. This small, but critical aspect of the film is what really makes it comedic rather than dark and painful. It helps lift some of the weight of what she’s going through so we can focus on the situation and not the toll it takes on her.
What Rakel discovers about herself and her bond with the little life growing inside her is something she didn’t expect. Even better, the narrative takes us into territory rarely seen in “uh oh she’s pregnant” films, exploring non-conforming roles when it concerns feelings of motherhood, fatherhood, and family. It rightfully questions cis-normative expectations of women and whether they were simply born to be mothers.
Ninjababy was the very last film I screened as SXSW cut off (and I mean cut, they shut it down exactly at 11:59pm on Saturday) access to all streams. I was lucky enough to finish it with a little help from the film’s publicity folks and thank goodness because it turned out to be one of the most delightful films I saw, and highly ranked among my favorites.
Our Father ( 2021 | USA | 96 minutes | Bradley Grant Smith)
On the cusp of starting her “real” life, Beta (Baize Buzan) gets a call. Her dad has died, and she has no idea how to feel about it. She visits her sister, Zelda (Allison Torem), to let her know what happened and maybe even get a little comfort from the only family member that would understand. Unfortunately Zelda has less of a hold on her life that Beta does, sneaking in and out of her apartment to avoid the manager, no income to speak of and seemingly no friends.
Hungry for a connection, Beta drags Zelda to their dad’s wife’s house, the woman he’d been married to before and after the affair with their mother. Greeted with only the slightest semblance of kindness, Mary and her three sons set the scene for an incredibly awkward homecoming. With one brother coming onto Zelda, the other two putting up no pretense about how much they dislike both sisters, it’s starkly obvious they have no one but each other to rely. In his will they find out that they have an uncle that may still be alive, so the two go on a hunt for the one person they might be able to connect with in their odd and isolating family.
What starts out as a story of a young women full of potential and her screw-up sister who threatens to hold her back, turns into a tale of familial love, of a bond that sustains them both. While they may find something of what they’re looking for, they realize it’s more important to hold fast to those that already love us for who we are, even if it’s difficult. I felt kicked in the gut more than once before the credits rolled and there was no relief in the film, comedic or otherwise, from the heartache both felt at losing their father; especially the way in which it happened. It ends on a sweet note with Beta moving forward, feeling like Zelda is well taken care of, and the two sisters always having a place in each others lives.