Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! Is Overly Ambitious, But Saved By Its Actors
That Ha-Chan fails to commit to a given genre is abundantly clear not only from this scene, but from the rest of the film as well. At times, it plays as an absurdist comedy, with characters acting above and beyond what any typical human being would. The unrealistic way of behaving leads to many of the jokes falling flat.
At the same time, these heightened moments are enough to dampen the emotional impact of some of the more tender scenes. The death of Ha-Chan’s husband, for example, is the catalyst for the film’s primary theme, grief. Yet, the audience fails to feel the full extent of her loss until the final few scenes, in part because of the absurdist humor that the filmmakers lean into. As a result, the feelings of grief and loss are too distant to appreciate in their entirety.
Kikuchi’s prowess is on full display here...
Despite these shortcomings, some strong performances help bring up Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!. Haru is portrayed by Rinko Kikuchi, a seasoned Japanese actress who has not only appeared in blockbusters like Pacific Rim, but was also nominated for an Academy Award for her role in 2006's Babel. Kikuchi’s prowess is on full display here, as so much of the story rests on her shoulders. Her character is in virtually every scene, and even in the film’s weaker moments (such as when it goes too heavily into borderline-meaningless dream sequences), she helps to keep the film watchable at the very least. Not only that, but Kikuchi’s performance also ensures continual investment in her character from the audience, even when so many of the film’s bold swings fail to pay off.
Kikuchi’s chemistry with Alberto Guerra is another highlight of the film. Even in the mismatched and confused street dance/fight sequence, he has enough screen presence to command the attention of the audience and remain authentic to the character he’s playing. Guerra has often appeared in crime dramas, such as Crime Diaries: The Candidate and Narcos: Mexico, but he shows another side of his abilities in Ha-Chan that has seldom been seen since he made his acting debut in Vale todo.
Ultimately, this means that, even when the movie suffers from its own over-ambition and genre juggling, the main characters are still interesting enough for the viewer to remain seated. It may not be a perfect film, far from it, but Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty still has enough substance to be worth the watch.
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! screened at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, and is scheduled for a US theatrical release on September 25.
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Release Date
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September 23, 2026
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Runtime
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122 minutes
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Director
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Josef Kubota Wladyka
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Writers
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Nicholas Huynh, Josef Kubota Wladyka
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Producers
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James M. Hausler, Kimberly Parker Zox, Mao Nagakura
