Some films make you want to dance along with them. This one, from the title alone, makes you want to singalong too. Josef Kubota Wladyka’s latest feature, which premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, is perhaps his most personal. Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! offers a warm and often funny take on grief, self-confidence, and the courage it takes to start over.
Rinko Kikuchi, an actress you might have seen in Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014), which also premiered at Sundance, plays Haru (endearingly known as Ha-chan). She is blissfully married to Luis (Damián Alcázar), her charming Latin lover and ballroom dancing partner, when he dies suddenly in the middle of an amateur Latin senior dancing contest. The rest of the film follows Ha-chan as she gradually steps back into the world of competitive dance. Encouraged by her sisters and a new ballroom dance teacher, Fedir (Alberto Guerra), who is luckily (or unluckily?) in an open marriage.
One of the first things that captivated me was the stylistic chapter cards. These retro vignettes give the film a rhythmic flow and a hint of nostalgia. There’s a delightful 1980s/1990s vibe throughout the movie. The catchy tunes and Ha-chan’s love of Dirty Dancing (1987) gave me Muriel’s Wedding (1994) vibes. Not just in the soundtrack and synth score, but also in the production design (wardrobe and the retro decor) and Ha-chan’s punky personal style. I literally thought it was set in the 1990s until Ha-chan pulled out a tablet at the dinner table.
Nostalgic aesthetics isn’t uncommon in films these days, as filmmakers and viewers idealise a time before mobile phones and AI. As Fedir states later in the movie, nobody wants to leave their homes and move anymore; they want to sit on their phones. This cultural impatience with movement makes Haru’s dance pursuits feel both radical and relatable.
Kubota Wladyka skillfully balances the real and the surreal, so you never quite know if you’re watching a fantasy or a metaphor. The film’s cinematography feels light and loose. It follows Ha-chan intently, with an intimacy and immediacy that reacts to her every action and pulls back when she needs space. The camera dances with Ha-chan. This approach emphasises Haru’s journey and captures how grief and joy manifest in the body.
Then there’s the crow. Luis returns in Ha-chan’s imagination as a kawaii karasu, in the director’s words, which translates to “cute crow” in Japanese. Kubota Wladyka has shared how the idea for Luis to return as a cuddly animal came from pandemic-era costumes and the odd comfort people found in dressing up as characters they could embrace. It’s a simple, human source for a whimsical cinematic idea. In traditional Japanese culture, the crow is also seen as a messenger from death. I won’t spoil it, but the metaphorical phoenix rising from the ashes ties in with Luis’ new crow appearance.
The dance sequences are where the film truly takes off. Kubota Wladyka stages them with a fun blend of theatrical energy and real-life immediacy. There are ballroom beats, rumba rhythms, and intense tango techniques aplenty. The magical realist sequences take this further, turning the ballroom into a dramatic space. Mirrors multiply, chairs float, and the music bends like memory. There is one dance scene in particular where Fedir protects Ha-chan from drunk men, which is a hilarious riot. This rich visual style allows the film to navigate grief and rebirth without feeling overly sentimental. It’s scenes with this level of unabashed joy that make Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! a quintessential, character-driven, Sundance movie.
If the film has a small flaw, it’s that the subplot involving social media and the younger characters seems slightly underdeveloped. Yet this is a minor quibble in a film dedicated to one woman’s rediscovery of joy. If Ha-chan believes she needs Luis, or a man, to experience joy, this is undone by the film’s end. I haven’t said anything about Ha-chan’s chalk-and-cheese relatives (Yoh Yoshida as Yuki and You as Hiromi, who were both excellent). Ha-chan rediscovers what she really needs. The messy, unwavering support of her family and faith in herself.
Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! is a film about learning to reclaim space again – physically, socially, and spiritually. It’s funny, touching, and, for a film that could have been overly sweet, Kubota Wladyka finds a humane and often hilarious balance.
If you enjoy films that make you move – whether in your seat or on your feet – this one will resonate with you. It’s a lively, inventive celebration of small recoveries, and Rinko Kikuchi delivers a character that you can’t help but root for.
