Eye For Film >> Movies >> How She Move (2007) DVD Review
According to the stars, How She Move is a “gritty” and “complicated” movie, unlike the other dance flicks you’ve ever seen.
Whaaat!!?
In the special features area of the DVD you’ll find an option that says “Trailer.” After watching this you’ll have seen Ian Iqbal Rashid’s film inside of two minutes.
You know the story by heart. Young high school girl grows up in rough neighbourhood and overcomes personal tragedy by re-kindling a passion for dance. Cue the clichés that draw obvious comparisons to Step Up, Save The Last Dance, Stomp The Yard, et al. While the set piece sequences are just as impressive as their predecessors, the plot is unable to make itself any less formulaic and absconds into just another teen dance movie with extremely familiar characters.
As for the DVD extras, things don’t improve. Alongside the trailer is a series of interviews with the lead actors, a chance to hear them discuss their roles, the ins and outs of character analysis, although by the end you won’t have discovered anything dissimilar to what the movie already quite blatantly demonstrates.
Next up you’ll find two equally disposable featurettes. From Rehearsals To Film is a 10 minute clip of the actors discussing their rigorous training regime, which, as we discover, includes six days a week of dance training, in preparation for the movie’s memorable finale. Rapping things up, How She Move: Telling Her Story is a chance for the people behind the camera, including director Rashid, to convince us that the film is a coming of age story “about a young woman trying to figure out her way in the world.”
No, it isn’t. It’s just another dance movie.
Reviewed on: 11 Aug 2008