Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

Kikuchi makes every stumble, flourish, and embarrassment feel lived-in, another reason the movie works.

Rinko Kikuchi is radiant in the film, playing Haru, a young widow in Tokyo with a mop of curls and a discreet nose ring.

Dedicating the film to his ballroom-dancer mother, Mr. Wladyka has crafted something that is, like so much in Japanese culture, modest and delicate but exquisite. Gripping her emotions tightly, Ha-Chan nevertheless is a study in how difficult it is to rebuild a life after someone’s passing.

Told in chapters, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” unfolds like a good beach novel read. Cinematographer Daniel Satinoff is the movie’s MVP, but the needle drops and musical interludes earn a close second place. This is a fun, breezy way to kill two hours at the movies.

The movie is pleasing, if slight, though Kikuchi’s performance is nuanced enough to keep you watching, and to keep you rooting for her.

The choreography feels restrained and intimate and when Ha-chan, Shake Your Booty! swerves into fantasy its catchy and feels vibrant — and is methodically threaded with the notion of letting go, and that even finality can be cheerfully addressed.

While trying to confront grief with a sense of mischief, the movie’s impish tonal approach takes the sting out of death a little too often, rendering its catharsis null. It’s hard not to respect a big swing, but Wladyka ultimately misses.