Reviewed by Jo Wood
Stars Rutina Wesley, Tre Armstrong, Boyd Banks, Dwain Murphy, Clé Bennett,
Conrad Coates, Ardon Bess, Keyshia Cole, DeRay Davis | Written by Annmarie Morais
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 87 minutes | Directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid
Well, dance movies are normally a resounding no-no for the avid film reviewer. It normally goes a bit like this: white girl can’t dance; black guy teaches white girl to move hips a tiny amount; and this is celebrated as a great success. Racial and class boundaries are broken. Everyone lives happily ever after. It’s a formula.
However, for starters in How She Move, there isn’t the muddled try-hard inclusion of middle class white America, and it’s obvious they took great care in their casting and script. If you can get over the grammatical ineptitude of the title, and the close, sometimes intrusive positioning of the camera, then you’re halfway there. Given half a chance, this film is less patronising, more intelligent and somehow more sincere than other movies of the same genre. Set in the infamously drug and crime ridden Jane-Finch community near Toronto, youth culture is all about sticking to the old neighbourhood — getting by anyway you can, and not deserting your peers. Raya Green (Wesley), however, had broken free and was being educated independently until her elder sister succumbed to drug abuse, stole all the family’s money, and tragically died. Born to Jamaican immigrants who desperately want to see their daughter complete medical school, but can no longer afford her fees, Raya returns home to a frosty welcome from ex friend Michelle (Armstrong) and some lusty attention from old classmate Bishop (Murphy).
In her bid to accumulate enough money to send herself back to school, Raya controversially chooses to "step" for Bishop's all-boy team, as opposed to all-girl, but less successful, Michelle’s team, for a championship worth $50,000. I must admit to never having heard of "step" before — the production notes tell us it’s an “intensely rhythmic, percussive and expressive form of dancing that began as a way of connecting people in Africa”. In a nutshell, it’s looks and feels like a more flexible, street form of tap, which has become huge in the youth culture of America. So, in an 8 Mile-type step-off, teams compete for the trophy, for the money and for the respect of their peers.
However, this movie’s not really about the plot, it’s about the characters, and a gritty tribute to the youth communities of North America and Canada. Raya strives to come to terms with guilt over her sister’s death, her parents struggling marriage, and most importantly the fact she lives somewhere she doesn’t entirely fit in — but learning you don’t necessarily have to fit in to belong. In direct comparison to the majority of mainstream Hollywood flicks, the girls are neither clueless, powerless, nor anorexic. They have fire in their bellies and are passionate and determined. This is about a poor black youth community empowering themselves with initiative, determination and talent.
With a soundtrack to die for, there are a few cringe worthy moments synonymous with most teen flicks, like a "dance off" between the two main girls when really we know they would just be tearing each other’s eyeballs out. But the script in the main part is quick, and at times very funny: "The Lord giveth, and the junky pawneth away." The choreography in the final third of the movie is breathtaking, and at times it was all I could do to stop myself applauding. Longer than its plot necessitated, but uplifting in the strength of its women, this movie left me on a high.
EXTRAS ** Just three making-of featurettes — The Characters of How She Move, From Rehearsal to Film and How She Movie: Telling Her Story — and the theatrical trailer