FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead

Scene from Planet B-Boy

When I first heard about the breakdancing documentary Planet B-Boy around a year ago, I remember dismissing it as the kind of specialist movie that wouldn’t be of interest to me. Didn’t breakdancing go out in the eighties?

Not quite. Yes, Planet B-Boy (playing until June 5 at Cinemark Tinseltown) is packed with wall-to-wall breakdancing, which is sure to attract aficionados of b-boy culture. But the documentary also does a great job of showing how this dance scene has developed, largely out of the mainstream eye, into a spectacular artform that combines creativity, physical power and finesse. I couldn’t help but be drawn in.

The film starts by telling us what went wrong. Older b-boys talk about how “embarrassing” breakdance became after it hit the mainstream and became a commercial affair. The mainstream grew weary of it, but b-boying continued to have a passionate following as an outlet for personal expression and self-discovery.

The story follows five top teams from Las Vegas, Paris, Osaka, Seoul and even rural South as they prepare for the major b-boy international competition, the Battle of the Year. We learn that different countries are renowned for their particular styles – the French for the beauty of their moves, the reigning champion Koreans for their power moves and technical brilliance (one can spin on his head seemingly for hours) while the Japanese are known for their supreme innovations.

There are also insights, through interviews with individual dancers and their parents, into the personal challenges each struggles with. For the Japanese and Korean squad leaders, the competition forms a landmark point in their relationships with their fathers. The French team, with 12-year-old, blonde-haired Lil’ Kev providing some comic relief, want to raise the profile of Chelles, their largely immigrant commune just outside Paris. There are few females in the film as this is mostly a young male milieu, although a feisty grandmother briefly busts some moves on the floor.

This is the first documentary from Toronto-born filmmaker Benson Lee. He keeps it simple by focusing on the build-up to the competition while maintaining a light-hearted tone. The back story is stretched a little thin by trying to focus on so many people, but we learn enough about the characters to be emotionally invested in them as they prepare for the climactic dance-off against crews from 17 other nations in a little town in Germany.

The most memorable aspect of the film, of course, are the moves themselves, whether they be elaborately choreographed sequences involving all members of a crew or individual freestyle moves. I found myself watching with a dropped jaw much of the time.

Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light, (showing June 5-12 at the Vancouver International Film Centre) is an unusual arthouse film about a love-triangle in a Mennonite farming community in Mexico. A devoted father and husband has a crisis of faith, when he becomes attracted to another woman. It has earned widespread critical acclaim for its ambition and beautiful imagery, although the two-hour film does move at a slow pace.

VIFC is also showing the intriguing drama XXY about a young Argentine hermaphrodite working out her sexuality and gender. The film, showing June 13-17, has been credited for its sensitive and clear-eyed handling of its emotional subject-matter. Both Silent Light and XXY were award-winners at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

With June being Bike Month, it would be remiss of me not to mention that this year’s bike-themed short films festival will screen on June 26 at the Ridge Theatre starting at 6.30pm. More details can be found at www.bikeshorts.ca.

Robert Alstead made the Vancouver-set bicycle documentary You Never Bike Alone, available on DVD at www.youneverbikealone.com