Set amidst the the world of Tokyo ballroom dancing, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! picked a fair amount of applause when it premiered at Sundance back in January. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the rights and it is out domestically this weekend. Josef Kubota Wladkya directs and cowrites with Rinko Kikuchi (a Supporting Actress nominee 20 years ago for Babel) headlining. The supporting cast includes Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, Japanese TV personality You, Yoh Yoshida, and Damián Alcázar.
Wladkya picked up a directing prize at the Utah festival and Shake sports an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score with 71 on Metacritic. There was some chatter post Sundance that this could pick up awards buzz, including for Kikuchi. That talk has subsided considerably with a low-key marketing campaign and I don’t see this popping up anywhere on the Academy’s radar. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
