On Friday night, headed over to the Landmark Sunshine theater to see the theatrical release of Amy Lo's long-tended film, Planet B-Boy. There was a long line-up to get in to the show, and the crowd, a mix of NYC hipsters, East Asians (and the NYC hipsters who love them) and young and aging hip hop heads (and me), was buzzing. The wait was worth it.
Surveying global b-boy culture, while providing a quick context for b-boy's emergence as one of the four elements of hip hip culture, Planet B-Boy tracks the emergence of five elite B-boy teams from Korea, Japan, the US, and France, demonstrating the range of b-boy styles represented and evolved by different youth cultures world wide, and the surprisingly common, and touching, themes that track many of the young men as they strive for the grand prize of being named world champion at the Battle of the Year.
In line with recent documentaries, the film mixes sweet and engaging human interest stories with a perspective on an emerging global culture around b-boying that has far outgrown its roots in the Bronx, while still being true to the ethics and aesthetics of hip hop. Cheeky visual references, like an homage to the classic scene in Flashdance, transported to Japan, and a wealth of fucking incredible dancing make the film well worth a look-see.
Check it out, when it hits a city near you (and if you don't support it, the run threatens to be limited... so help out the good people who made this movie by turning up!). See the website for screenings in your neighborhood, or go to one of these screenings:
3/21 New York, NY - LANDMARK SUNSHINE
3/21 Los Angeles, CA - LANDMARK NUART
3/28 San Francisco, CA - LANDMARK LUMIERE
3/28 Berkeley, CA - LANDMARK SHATTUCK
3/28 San Diego, CA - LANDMARK KEN
3/28 Irvine, CA - EDWARDS UNIVERSITY TOWN CENTER 6
3/28 Washington, DC - LANDMARK E STREET THEATRE
4/04 or 4/11 Austin, TX - LANDMARK DOBIE
4/04 Boston, MA - LANDMARK KENDALL SQUARE
4/04 Chicago, IL - LANDMARK CENTURY CENTER CINEMA
4/04 Phoenix, AZ - HARKINS VALLEY ART
4/11 Denver, CO - LANDMARK MAYAN THEATRE
4/11 Minneapolis, MN - LANDMARK LAGOON
4/18 Philadelphia, PA - LANDMARK RITZ @ THE BOURSE
4/18 Portland, OR - REGAL FOX TOWER STADIUM 10
4/25 Atlanta, GA - LANDMARK MIDTOWN ART
4/25 Seattle, WA - LANDMARK VARSITY THEATRE
5/02 St. Louis, MO - LANDMARK TIVOLI
And check out Japan's 2nd place team at the 2006 competition, Ichigeki:
It's like a crunked up Busby Berkeley. I love it.
2 comments:
Saw this film in Honolulu last night. The producer came out to present it, and got a group of Waikiki b-boys to do a 20-minute set beforehand. It was a good entree into the high-energy flick.
Honolulu was a unique, and very fun venue to watch this movie. Like NYC, you had the college kids and local hip-hoppers, but replace the hipsters with a smattering of random hawaii residents (the older surfer dude, families with little kids, older patrons of the arts, as it was shown at the Art Academy). And when the film focused on the Japanese b-boy's family, I could look to my right and see an older woman with her husband who looked pretty similar. Plus lots of catcalls when the film showed calls for Japanese/Korean national pride, and an utter silence when the violent history between the two countries was mentioned.
Thanks for putting the movie on my radar.
Glad you liked it. We didn't get the Korean/Japanese national rivalry during the showing I saw, but you did have a unique and knowing reaction to some of the Korean cultural references in the movie...
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