{"id":35292,"date":"2026-09-22T23:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T03:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=35292"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:33:35","slug":"ha-chan-shake-your-booty-shows-how-dance-can-give-us-the-time-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=35292","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty\u2019 Shows How Dance Can Give Us \u201cThe Time Our Lives”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American filmmaker Josef Kubota Wladyka \u2014 born to a Japanese mother and a Polish father \u2014 channels in his latest film his upbringing in an intercultural family, driven by the passion for dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty <\/i><\/b>\u2014 presented at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival \u2014is a fantasy dance drama that revolves around the 46-year old Japanese Haru (Rinko Kikuchi). She spends her days with ease, in the company of her husband and dance partner in competitions, the Mexican Luis (Alejandro Edda), until one day tragedy strikes. Haru\u2019s loved ones Yuki (Yoh Yoshida) and Hiromi (YOU) push the grieving lady back to the dance floor, where she meets Fedir (Alberto Guerra), a charismatic Latin instructor who helps her enjoy life again\u2026for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The movie is an emotional rollercoaster, filled with the ups and downs of life. The greatest teaching one will hold, once the credits roll, is the importance of letting go: not just those who passed, but also the living who cannot be part of our lives. The often neglected art form of ballroom dance takes centre stage with its cathartic powers of healing, and the joie de vivre of escapism that can stem out of it. Josef Kubota Wladyka resorts to magical realism, as he reaches out to the oneiric with playful elation. The film is beyond a traditional musical, where habitually characters start dancing and singing to express their emotions. In Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty<\/i><\/b>, when Haru is in a state of slumber or zones out, she finds refuge in alternative scenarios where she dances with the people around her, finding the balance she is lacking in her day to day life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The filmic artistry of Josef Kubota Wladyka beguiles from the first scene, with a long shot in Haru\u2019s beautiful Tokyo home with a vintage-flair aesthetic, as one of her beloved vinyls sets the mood, upon the notes of Watashi To Watashi<\/i> by The Peanuts. Throughout the drama, comedic nods are made to topics that are at the core of the narrative: Dirty Dancing<\/i><\/b> gets a Nipponic touch, as much as La Catrina<\/i> of the D\u00eda de Los Muertos. The script, written by Josef Kubota Wladyka and Nicholas Huynh, indulges<\/span> in some <\/span>self-deprecating humour<\/span> about ethnicity with expressions such as \u201cyellow stays mellow\u201d and \u201cAsian don\u2019t raisin.\u201d This is craftily done since it subtly addresses double standards surrounding age gaps between women and men in relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty<\/i><\/b> in certain moments comes across as a black comedy, in others instants it feels like a timeless fairytale set in our digital epoch. The storytelling is divided in chapters as if we were stepping into a cinematic book to follow the heroine\u2019s journey, experiencing <\/span>Haru\u2019s turbulent and chaotic ride.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Josef Kubota Wladyka dedicated <\/span>Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty <\/i><\/b>to his mother, also named Haru<\/span>, a member of USA Dance who has danced for more than 40 years and is still shaking her booty as a competing octogenarian. It is not an autobiography, since her personal story and the fictional character\u2019s story take a different course of events. What they share is how they both turned to dancing to navigate hardships, which certainly will inspire many spectators to embrace a discipline that transcends borders, languages and cultural differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Grade: B+<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos credits: IMDb<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Check out more of Chiara\u2019s articles<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n