Movie Review: Film shows world of break-dancers

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Published: November 21, 2008

A scene from "Planet B-Boy" shows a break-dancer near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. ARTS ALLIANCE AMERICA PHOTO

The first head-spinning revelation "Planet B-Boy” offers up is that break dancing didn’t die back in the mid-’80s — it just went underground and spread worldwide.

Korean-American filmmaker Benson Lee’s dynamic documentary takes the viewer hip-hopping around the world on a fascinating and surprisingly heartwarming tour of the subculture in cities as varied as Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Las Vegas. His camera follows "crews” of B-boys in the different locales as they prepare for the oldest and largest break-dancing contest, Germany’s "Battle of the Year.”

In the process, he studies some members of the teams, and what rewards they reap from this street-bred art form. It’s painfully clear that most of these young men and women — most in their teens or early 20s — struggle to make ends meet, and many live below the poverty line. The consensus seems to be that mastering the physically demanding dance form in a style uniquely their own spawns a sense of self-worth, individuality and a much-needed means of self-expression — essentials they’ve been denied most of their lives. And then, of course, there’s the joy of it all.

"The reason I dance is to explode and feel free,” one Japanese B-boy declares.

And explosive is indeed the word to describe the amazing athleticism and acrobatic artistry these self-taught dancers display, especially in the solid synchronization of the choreography they devise in group performances.

But Lee takes time to focus on the personal lives of the B-boys as well, and how they and their families are affected by this cultural phenomenon, from a Korean son who seeks and finally manages to win his strait-laced father’s approval, and the French boy who is compelled to confront his family’s racism, to an American dancer in Vegas who is simply looking for his first big break.

Here is real life comedy and drama at its best, played against vivid international backdrops as it builds toward a climactic showdown for the world championship.

— Gene Triplett

Related Topics: Economic Issues, Poverty