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How She Move
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Andreas Petersen (18th April 2008). |
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The Film
 It seems it would be unfair to immediately draw comparisons between "How She Move" and other recent dance movies, such as "You Got Served" (2004) and "Step Up" (2006), just as it’s unfair to compare anything to the worst there is. With this in mind, I tried to watch "How She Move" with an open mind, ignoring it as a genre movie, and tried to enjoy it for what it was. While the movie is leagues ahead of any other dance movie I’ve seen in the past few years, it is still bogged down with conventions that all movies like this seem to carry. "How She Move" tells the story of Raya (Rutina Wesley), a former dancer who left behind her life in the mean streets to attend medical school. Recently her sister died from a drug-related incident, and Raya has come home to be with her family in this hard time. She catches up with her friends Bishop (Dwain Murphy) and Michelle (Tre Armstrong). Raya’s parents used up all of her tuition money to pay for treatments for her sister, so she must now find a way to pay for them herself. Her first option is a scholarship test, but fears she failed it miserably. Before long, a second option arises: enter a dance competition to win tuition money. She teams up with Bishop, as well as a few others, and goes down the twisty turns of the life of a street step dancer. While other dance movies like "Step Up" and "You Got Served" contain an aura of ridiculousness, "How She Move" feels legitimate. Where other dance movies seem to be complete exaggerations of real life, "How She Move", directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid, attempts to show what the life of a street dancer is really like, and for the most part, is successful. The movie never feels perfectly staged, lit, or shot, adding a very gritty feel to the movie. You won’t find any sweeping shots over people on wires, but rather hand held footage of real people really dancing. My appreciation for this movie, unfortunately, ends right there. Yes, the movie is unique in its style and approach to the dance movie, but narrative it still feels tired and unoriginal. Many of the film’s plot points seem to have been lifted strait out of other films, specifically in one scene were another dance crew steals moves ("You Got Served"), and another where Raya lies about going to school to attend a competition, and her mother tracks her down to give her a talking to, only to get a “I am who I am” speech thrown back at her ("Cool Runnings" (1993)). Then there’s the character development of the film, or rather, the lack of. Raya has returned home, so it’s only natural that she need not be introduced to the characters of the film, but as a viewer, I felt completely left in the dark. Not to mention that everyone in the film seems to have frictionless fights and make-ups, as in one second two characters will be friends, then they will fight over something for no reason, then make-up for no reason. In the end, "How She Move" is really ahead of the dance-movie game, but it’s an easy game, so I’m not sure how much that speaks about the film. If you are a fan to step dancing, I may be able to recommend this, but otherwise, I don’t think I could.
Video
The film is offered in a widescreen 1.85: 1 anamorphic transfer. While the movie doesn’t look terrible, there is an undeniable amount of grain that enters the screen in darker scenes. This was a Sundance movie, so I have to imagine it was shot on the cheap, which would explain the quality. In a way the grain is detracting, but in a way it also adds to the grittiness of the film, so I’m torn on whether I like it or not. As for the movie’s overall look, it felt inconsistent in that in some scenes I had no problem telling what I was looking at, while in others you could tell they skrimped out on lighting, and made them extremely hard to watch.
Audio
"How She Move" is offered in both in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, as well as in Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Most of the sound came through well enough, but the music and sound effects, primarily the slapping of hands and stomping of shoes, came through amazingly well. In a movie like this, the dance sound effects and music are paramount, and "How She Move" delivered in this regard. Optional subtitles are included in English and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount offers a few extras, primarily three featurettes, the film's theatrical trailer and some bonus trailers. They are examined further below: First up is "The Characters of How She Move" featurette, running for 13 minutes and 30 seconds. In this each of the film’s main actors are interviewed, offering insight into why they chose to portray their character the way they did. I found this feature mildly enjoyable, as every actor in the film is an up-and-comer, so they come off as very personable. Next is "From Rehearsal to Film" featurette, running for 8 minutes and 48 seconds, in which the actors of the film are interviewed concerning the film’s numerous dance numbers. Here, the actors divulge the tiring process of dancing five days a week for up to nine hours a day. Many of the film’s dance numbers are shown in the rehearsal stages, juxtaposed with the finished product in the film. "How She Move: Telling Her Story" featurette is next, running for 10 minutes and 12 seconds, interviews Rutina Wesley, as well as a few of the film’s producers, as they dissect what the story of "How She Move" really is, and look at the character of Raya a bit closer. This feature was sort of interesting in regards to it discussing some of the film’s underlying themes, showing that it wasn’t all about dance. The disc also includes the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 25 seconds. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Cloverfield" running for 2 minutes and 12 seconds. - "BlacKout" running for 2 minutes and 32 seconds. - "Norbit" running for 1 minute and 56 seconds. - "The Duchess" running for 1 minute and 49 seconds. - "Defiance" running for 2 minutes and 5 seconds. - "Son of Rambow" running for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Overall
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