Catch the Fair One <\/a>(2021) dealt with boxing and the trafficking of Indigenous women, and he has directed many episodes of the Netflix series Narcos.<\/p>\n\n\tThe unexpected light touch he brings to Ha-chan is especially evident in surreal scenes that blend easily into the realistic trajectory. Daniel Satinoff\u2019s cinematography makes those transitions clear and smooth. The background light onscreen changes, a spotlight narrows to highlight Haru, and we are inside her fantasies. She sees herself dancing alone with Fedir, when in fact she is just one member of his class.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn another surreal scene, a giant black crow walks into Haru\u2019s house, soon revealed as her fantasy of Luis wearing a crow costume. The bird is both an avatar of death and a reassuring presence. Wladyka uses the fantasy scenes just enough to reveal Haru\u2019s thoughts, to show how reality feeds her fantasies and those fantasies inspire her actions.<\/p>\n
\n\tEven when it is most concerned with death, though, the film is full of life, from the colorful production design to the well-chosen costumes. Haru goes to a costume party in the dress and skeletal makeup of the Mexican Day of the Dead, an unspoken tribute to Luis even as she has eyes for Fedir.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film is not a musical but it is filled with a pop soundtrack, and the dance scenes evoke both Haru\u2019s passion for dancing and Wladyka\u2019s love of films. Brightly colored chapter headings include \u201cNobody Puts Baby in a Corner,\u201d which leads to an homage to Dirty Dancing. In another cheerful musical set piece, Haru and Fedir run into a group of belligerent drunken men outside a train station, and in her fantasy the men in business suits start dancing to \u201cBe My Baby\u201d in choreographed unison.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe engaging supporting characters include Haru\u2019s concerned, sympathetic sister, Yuki (Yoh Yoshida), and their brash cousin, Hiromi (YOU). It\u2019s Hiromi, who wrongly imagines that she grasps American culture, who tells Haru to get out there and \u201cshake your booty,\u201d a phrase that instantly registers as the over-the-top Hiromi being out-of-touch.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film is clearly not aimed at a young demographic. Haru and Luis enter the Amateur Latin Senior dance competition and her sister throws her a 46th birthday party. But with an engaging star and a story that leads to a touching, optimistic ending, Wladyka has created a little gem likely to find its audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rumba, the cha-cha and the tango help bring a widow out of mourning in this surprisingly buoyant,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,2320,85,46,134735,397,134736,19830,60671,48764,134737],"class_list":{"0":"post-253256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-festivals","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-josef-kubota-wladyka","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-rinko-kukuchi","15":"tag-sundance","16":"tag-sundance-2026","17":"tag-sundance-film-festival","18":"tag-sundance-film-festival-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}