Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! dances through grief

Movies about grief rarely qualify as entertaining, but Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! makes room for real loss and still finds plenty to smile about. Co-writing with Nicholas Huynh, director Josef Kubota Wladyka mixes dance, rom-com, and a touch of fantasy into the story of a woman rocked by the unexpected loss of her beloved husband. Playing title character Ha-Chan, Rinko Kikuchi shines with the same magnetic screen presence that lead to her best supporting actress nomination back in 2006’s Babel. Grown up from that breakout role as a mute teenager, Kikuchi has a face adored by big-screen close-ups and director Wladyka knows it. His shots linger on her expressive face,

establishing Ha-Chan as a joyful woman who loves dancing with her husband. Prone to a few flights of fancy, Ha-Chan literally soars with him at a dance competition in Tokyo, the couple rising in the air above the rest of the crowd, floating in a magical moment. The tone shifts when sorrow pushes Ha-Chan into an isolated state of depression, inspiring her sisters to force her back on the dance floor. This allows the actress called You to step in as a scene-stealer, her comic asides emphasizing one of the film’s key points that “messy can be good.” And when it comes to messy, director Wladyka inserts garish chapter headings, loudly called in English and Japanese and featuring both the f-word and the “Don’t Put Baby in a Corner: line from another movie. Dialogue switches between Japanese, English, and Spanish, with pop-culture infusions and an ode to Dirty Dancing. Dance blends into Ha-Chan’s penchant for fantasy, leading to enjoyably choreographed routines that prove both insightful and relevant to action. Colorful, bright, and boasting standout performances, Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! stands out as a perceptive and funny reminder to move on, start dancing, and keep living.