Dancing Karate Kid
                     
Director: Tsukasa Kishimoto
Year: 2013
Rating: 6.0
A laid back whimsical Japanese film that at times wanders too close into cuteness. It peters out towards the end but along the way has some moments that had me laughing out loud. Karate Kid Meets Flashdance? I don't know but there are elements of both. I am a fan of Japanese low-key comedies in which eccentricity plays a big part. The comedy comes from the characters just being off a bit. Ken is travelling around Japan trying to learn new styles of dancing and has ended up penniless in a small town in Okinawa where everyone it seems is a little kooky. Walking into the town he passes an elderly woman playing the shamisen by the side of the road and her equally elderly husband dancing. When they ask for money, he reaches into his wallet - their eyes light up - and he shows them that it is empty. He tries doing the same once in the town, setting up his boom-box and dancing. His dancing is sort of a combination of mime, breakdancing without the break and his own strange individual style.



It is not appreciated by the local Yakuza who come over and beat him up. Because he is a newcomer to town. A Yakuza welcome. The Mr. Miyagi type character witnesses this and tells him he will teach him the local Ryukyu dance style. He puts Ken up in his local dojo that has no customers but is run by his granddaughter Misako (Babi Koike) who wants to get married but only to a strong man with no hair on his chest. And have her suitors fight to marry her as tradition dictates. A "Bride-Winning Battle". The local karate instructor has a thing for her but has a Robin William hairy chest. By learning the Ryukyu style, Ken is also learning martial arts. Which he uses to beat up the Yakuza gang. The film feels weightless - clearly with a very small budget - but it is a mildly charming 78 minutes and passes with no effort. The martial arts are actually fairly decent and the actor who plays Ken (Joey Iwanaga) has some physical skills whether through martial arts or dancing training I don't know. He seems to have made appearances in mainly action films including the Hong Kong Enter the Fat Dragon (2020). Directed by Tsukasa Kishimoto, who has directed some other Okinawa placed films.