Directed by: Josef Kubota Wladyka
Written by: Josef Kubota Wladyka and Nicholas Huynh
Starring: Rinko Kikuchi, Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, You, and Yoh Yoshida
Runtime: 116 minutes
‘Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!’ steps into quirky, rewarding, and charming spaces
“Ah, everybody, get on the dance floor and let’s dance. Don’t fight your feelings, give yourself a chance.” – “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” by KC and the Sunshine Band (1976)
Haru (Rinko Kikuchi) loves to dance, and she has the best supportive partner: her husband, Luis (Alejandro Edda). Even though the title of director/co-writer Josef Kubota Wladyka’s film, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”, might call to feelings of 70s disco, Haru and Luis enjoy (and thrive with) ballroom dancing.
On the other hand, their sprawling vinyl collection on display in their gorgeous Tokyo home might include KC and the Sunshine Band, Bee Gees, and ABBA records.
However, in heartbreaking fashion, the music stops for this happy couple early in the movie’s first act, and Haru suddenly becomes a solo dancing queen. This devastated 45-year-old must learn to live without her adoring partner and work through her grief. Luckily, her close kin - Yuki (Yoh Yoshida) and Hiromi (You) - encourage our depressed heroine to raise her spirits with dance lessons at a local studio. She then meets Fedir (Alberto Guerra), a “Dancing with the Stars” alumnus, and with his handsome looks and commanding style, he could be the spark to cure Haru’s agonizing blues.
Wladyka and co-writer Nicholas Huynh’s movie title suggests an exuberant comedy, and yes, the 116-minute runtime includes high-flying whimsy, dives into the supernatural, and sudden overtures into a few musical numbers, where leads and supporting characters break away from the happenings on screen and bounce into dance.
Still, Haru is also a devastated soul. Our lead acting and dancing performer must overcome the loss of Luis, so her arc of a hopeful, colorful rainbow of joy, song, and a collection of cross-body leads, reverse spins, quick-quicks, and box steps is also laced with sorrow, longing, and jealousy.
Kikuchi is here for all of it, delivering a graceful, engaging, and nuanced performance that also delves into dark, morose territory. Haru, who is also an elegant dancer, wears her heart on her sleeve throughout all the steps on her emotional journey and convinces the audience of her convictions of adoration for Luis and (later for) Fedir, frustration with Yuki and Hiromi, and a mixture of hope and confusion where mystical passages at home take hold and disbelief wins the day.
Haru suffers authentic loss here, and empathy cascades in waves in the form of figurative hugs from the audience, as she struggles to drag herself from her contemporary single-story house where memories of Luis are everywhere and reach out to humanity through the contact of conversation and the dance floor.
Wladyka includes plenty of stretches of delight, romance, and daydreams, and at times, we wonder if the kinetic, flamboyant flashes are fixtures of Haru’s imagination or tried-and-true. Rather than guess, sit back and enjoy the splendor and surprises, as cinematographer Daniel Satinoff and the choreography team lavish the screen with creative, enchanting framing, the joys of dance, and bliss, including one scene that calls back to an all-time American classic from 1987.
Set in Tokyo, the characters speak Japanese, English, and Spanish, and the flick is divided into chapters recited in both English and Japanese as a subtle, thoughtful gesture to broaden the experience for audiences. This rated-R movie seems like a PG-13 affair that can be enjoyed by teens and adults alike, but “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” – at its core - is a ladies’ night-out event with quirky sensibilities, the gravitas of loss, and the treasures of dance and romance.
“Ah, everybody, get on the floor and let’s dance.”
Don’t fight your feelings. Give this rewarding, charming film a chance.
Jeff’s ranking
3 / 4 stars
