‘Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!’ Trailer: Rinko Kikuchi Dances Her Way Through Grief in Sundance Hit

The Sundance Film Festival built its reputation on consistently delivering something cinephiles weren’t expecting. This year, one of its more unexpected swerves was the breakout hit “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” The whimsical film stars Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi as a passionate participant in Tokyo’s ballroom dance competitions who returns to the studio after her husband and dance partner’s death. She begins a new romance with a sexy dance teacher, leading to a crowd-pleasing meditation on what it means to love and grieve. And thanks to an acquisition by Sony Pictures Classics, the film is heading to theaters this fall. An official synopsis for “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” reads: Haru and Luis love competing in Tokyo’s ballroom dance scene, but after tragedy strikes, Haru withdraws into isolation. When friends coax her back to the studio, she becomes infatuated with the new instructor. She must face what comes next as sparks fly. In addition to Kikuchi, the film also stars Alberto Guerra and Alejandro Edda. Josef Kubota Wladyka directs a script he co-wrote with Nicholas Huynh. Following the film’s premiere, many critics praised it for both a joyful depiction of Tokyo’s ballroom dance scene and its ability to supplement its joyful romantic swings with pathos. “That Haru is even back in the dance studio is a win, and the bonus delight of Fedir only adds to her sense that, hey, maybe this grief thing can be overcome. Or, can it? As Haru embarks on a zippy, funny, fizzy, and eventually unnerving pursuit of Fedir, it’s only natural that darker emotions continue to surface,” IndieWire’s Kate Erbland wrote in her Sundance review. “Many of them are beaten back by wondrous and fantastical dance sequences (Haru and Fedir at the center of all of them, a ‘Dirty Dancing’ riff of particular pleasure), though increasingly wacky plot movements nearly derail the film and our understanding of Haru’s spirit and heart. Still, grief is messy, and Haru’s attempts to work through it (even if she doesn’t know that’s what she’s doing) are innately human. That alone recommends the film, which is not as light on its feet as it might aspire to be, and is better and richer for it.” Sony Pictures Classics will release “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” in theaters on Friday, September 25. Watch the trailer below.