dirtydiph

An entertaining movie, if not exactly a masterpiece. Pitched as a spy-thriller, I actually enjoyed the film more so for its bizarre blend of genres and tonal shifts.

The film starts off with Hanna and her father Erik surviving and training in the forest / tundra and soon escalates to some typical chase scenes, fight scenes, stunt scenes. But the action doesn't quite reach the hyperbolic cheese or machismo of spy thrillers. It's always interspersed with coming-of-age / coming-into-society humour or some other odd bits and ends. But none of these generic categories stays too long. It always seems to be shifting. The atmospheric presentation was fascinating too: it's the kind of film where you can never be sure how perverse or violent it will allow itself to get.

The plot is weird and erratic. It's not the strongest part of the film, or why you should watch it. You should watch it because it's A) different from the typical action film, and B) Saoirse Ronan's acting is captivating.

The fact that I'm reviewing an anime on imdb probably already tells you that I'm not a huge anime buff. On the whole, I especially stay away from very cute, slice-of-school-life shows, animes with the same outward aesthetic that Yuru Camp has. But Yuru Camp was a delight to watch, and has probably the best depiction of camping in Japan that I'll ever see from an anime.

Its take on camping is both gorgeous and sophisticated (which is why you should watch it mainly), but it also has likeable main characters and, let me stress, terrific FOOD animation. The show is about girls who discover different sides to camping, and introduces you to beautiful views of campsites in Japan. At the same time, the way it includes camping methods, equipment, setting up, cooking, and so on, is both generally well-informed and also makes you want to up your camping game. The show is surprisingly down-to-earth.

The girls also aren't as, erm, prone to squealing as you might think from the artstyle - there were some expressions that I thought were a bit much, but overall the style is more elegant than cloying.

I especially appreciated that one of the main characters, Rin, isn't relegated to some "cold, loner" stereotype who eventually lets her walls down, etc. etc. Instead, her preference to camp by herself is presented as another, fully appreciable way of enjoying the outdoors, nor is her character exaggeratedly cold to people.

In all, an enjoyable show.