Šippú rondo

It was such a strange mix of different genres, but oddly enough it all fits together quite well. We had a human drama, a comedy, an action scene, a coming of age scene, the building of a parent-child relationship, with a bit of love thrown in, too... Well, just imagine the situation where an ordinary researcher accidentally creates an anthrax that's more deadly than the one we know, and his colleague takes this anthrax, hides it somewhere in the mountains of Nagano, and demands money for its return. Unfortunately, fate then intervenes and the researcher, Abe Hiroshi, has no choice but to set off on skis and find the stolen anthrax. He takes his son with him, who befriends kids his age there. The researcher gets close to the local mountain service because they keep having to rescue him, and then there's a third party who wants the anthrax for himself. There's just a lot of characters that have their own motivations and their own histories; and oddly enough, together it all makes sense, it doesn't interfere with each other, and it's all played by good actors. It's not cutting edge, but it flows along quite well and is fun to watch. Good for an afternoon's entertainment. And those snowy mountains are beautiful! (06/01/2019)