I’ve recently finished watching Planet B-Boy for the second time, and I was really surprised to see that it was just as great as the first time when I saw it three years ago. I remember watching a trailer for the movie on myspace, and then doing some research on when the soonest time I could see it was. I found out that it was playing at the Sunshine Cinema on Houston in the LES. For those who don’t know about Sunshine Cinema, it’s a really chill theater where they show film genres from Indie to Foreign. I told my friend Colin about it, and we hopped on the LIRR one Saturday in hopes of seeing the movie. We went to this ill Vegan restaurant called Red Bamboo on West 4th, and then made our way over to the theater.
I remember how everything in the city jumped out at me and seemed so much more alive than the things on Long Island. People were always on the move as if the destination, and not the journey, was all that matt
ered. I still see that now even though I’ve lived, and gone to school on and off, in NYC for a while. Anyway, we made our way over to the theater and got our tickets. I knew that the movie would be amazing just from watching the first ten minutes of it.
The movie is obviously about breakdancing on the surface, but it manages to achieve more than that and convey certain depths of life that can only be achieved through expressing true passion. A lot of great b-boys from around the world make appearances in it and talk about how breaking has gone through different phases, but still boils down to being more than a hobby for them. It’s a way of life. If I had to tell what the plot of the movie is, I’d say that it’s about a bunch of international b-boy teams who are struggling to live their dreams, and win the Battle of the Year (BOTY), within a world that is trying to force them to change who they are and conform to society through getting “real” jobs and making tons of money. The movie focuses on five international teams of breakers: Gamblerz (South Korea), Ichigecki (Japan), Phase-T (France), Last For One (South Korea), and Knucklehead Zoo (U.S.A). Korea had two teams because the Gamblerz won the previous year so they had a free pass to the competition. Those five teams, among many other nations of the world, were competing to be crowned the best team in the world. By the way, the BOTY is a huge breaking competition, and the history of it is told in the movie, so you should check it out if you want to know more.
There were actually a couple moments during the movie where true emotion was invoked inside of me because of the extreme Father-Son relationships that were going on with a lot of the breakers and their pops’, which made the whole journey of these teams even more inspirational. Planet B-Boy is a documentary. If you enjoy breakdancing for what it really is, if you want to learn more about it, if you just like watching cocky French people talk, or if you want to see passion in its truest form then definitely check out Planet B-Boy. I give this movie an 7/10.
Check out the trailer:
