HA-CHAN, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY! — If Your Heart is Broken, Dance It Out!

Review by Steve Barton II

Grief is a powerful emotion that is all encompassing and often debilitating. People often become reclusive and abruptly stop living their own lives as well. They will give up on all their passions and aspirations and become a shell of who they once were. In the case of Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, our leading lady Haru (Rinko Kikuchi) begins down that sad, depressing path, but her love and passion for the art of dancing brings her back out. Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty follows Haru after losing her husband who she competed in competitive ballroom dancing with. After a brief mourning period in isolation, Haru’s friends convince her to start dancing again and she becomes obsessed with the new instructor, Fedir (Alberto Guerra).

Ha-Chan tackles the topic of grief with both a real, authentic tone and some surrealism to show how complicated all these feelings are. The film’s overall structure is fairly simple with chapter names and introductions, but it finds its unique personality when Haru is dreaming. When she escapes into her mind, everything has a surrealistic style to where there are just a few details off and has the audience questioning either Haru’s or their own sanity. The camera work is incredibly dynamic, moving through scenes like another character especially during the epic dance sequences!

The activity of dance and the passions it breeds is the most vital element of Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! dance is her love language with her Mexican husband and when she loses him, a large part of her died as well. It's her passion for dance that brings her out of her misery and broadens her world to new possibilities. Director Josef Kubota Wladyka knows how to shoot action from his previous work on the live action One Piece show and his previous feature Catch the Fair One. In Ha-Chan, the action is the well-choreographed dance scenes and the camera stays right in the pocket to catch it all. Whether it’s the more traditional ballroom scenes or the train sequence, the camera has so much motion that it nearly forces the audience to join the party. 

Rinko Kikuchi as the leading lady brings an incredible performance that you experience almost every emotion with throughout the long runtime. She breaks your heart when you see her experiencing the harsh grief of losing a partner, but she also does immoral and unhinged acts to satisfy an obsession. Having Haru be a layered character with flaws instead of a “perfect” protagonist aids to giving a feeling of authenticity and relatability. Alejandro Edda as Haru’s deceased husband also brings it in the deeply emotional scenes where he’s a spirit or when they’re just chatting over their dinner table. Their chemistry is undeniably great, but the same can be said with her new “situationship” Fedir played by Alberto Guerra. Fedir is a dream guy for Haru with him immediately seducing her from his first dance move and his constant eye contact and smile. The smooth demeanor and gentle voice completely mind warps Haru and most women will understand while watching. Both characters are taking advantage of one another in this situation, but Haru was being deceitful with him from the start.

In the end, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! is an interesting piece of art centered around grief and loss and the importance of continuing to live. Many audience members may see it as “just another dance movie”, but it’s so much more than that. The dance sequences are amazing with incredible choreography and a dream team behind the camera to make it look spectacular. Although the title is silly and may seem juvenile to some, middle-aged women especially will find a deep connection with Haru and her emotional state throughout the film. It would be tighter if the film was about 20-30 minutes shorter, but the dance scenes needed to stay and it’s better for it. If a story about life, loss and dancing sounds like a recipe you’d like, give Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! a chance now!

Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty! is in theaters starting September 25th!

Rating: 3.5/5