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Film Review: The Way We Keep Dancing (2020) by Adam Wong

Courtesy of Osaka Asian Film Festival

's “” is a follow up to his great success from 2013 – “The Way We Dance”, his indisputably great take on Hong Kong's street dance culture. This time the focus isn't that much on dancing itself, but on the irreparable harm to the art community caused by the cunning strategies developed by the urban planning machinery to gentrify parts of the city.

The Way We Keep Dancing is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

The story of this loosely plotted drama is centered around the key members of KIDA (Kowloon Industrial City Artists), dancers, graffiti- and hip hop artists united in attempts to save their creative environment that is under constant threat of being deconstructed in one way or the other. Kowloon is alive with the sound of drilling, hammering, and buzzing of big construction machines. It is to that cacophony that the Hong Kong rapper Heyo (playing a version of himself) is setting his lyrics to: fast, observant poetry about his hometown, the constant change of its appearance, and social injustice he's witnessing. At the same time, he's trying to find his own place in it – not just in the now, but in the future as well. But as he raps: “Talk is easy. Embrace this city. If life is a box of chocolate, then how can we ever navigate.”

As industrial as it is, Kowloon is anything but dead. Over decades a popular place of artistic activities due to affordability of rents, the district lives to the beat of its own tunes. Nevertheless, since the law doesn't allow to live and sleep in the buildings officially declared as industrial, artists can only “nap” there. Beds are replaced by sofas or hard floors because police raids aren't a rarity, and the creatives do what they can to prove the rightful use of their apartments as studios.

Some of the actors from “The Way We Dance” reoccur, but they roles are different, as they play versions of their previous characters. is now Hana (and not Fa), an up-and-coming teenage movie/ commercial TV adds star, and the only non-professional dancer in a film that we will say something about a bit later. We get introduced to her while she is getting ready to appear at the film's premiere with the rest of the cast. Without time to waste, her agent Teresa () is already instructing her about her forthcoming appearance at the Y-channel show.

Other recurring faces from “The Way We Dance” are playing an influential Youtuber Leung, (in the role of choreographer/ photographer Milk Tea) and (as a successful dancer Dave who moves to New York), all of them members of KIDA. Kowloon is presented from its creative sides, some more than others, but there is an attempt of showing the multi-faceted face of the buzzing underground scene created directly on the streets. Simultaneously, while pointing out artists' need to create and keep going in Kowloon, Wong makes it clear that none of it brings enough money to afford life, except for a film project that reunites some of the dancers, which is none other than “The Way We Dance 2”. This little detail becomes even funnier if one is aware of the original Chinese title for “The Way We Keep Dancing” – “The Way We Dance 3”.

When the most ambitious of friends Leung gets approached by an agency interested to represent the art collective, he summons them all to come to the first meeting. The agency is about to submit a tender called Kowloon Industrial District Optimization Project for The Urban Planning Bureau, and according to the presentation, the artists would be encouraged to express their creativity by setting up a so called Dance Street in the district, with a wide range of artistic elements including graffiti art, hip hop and performances.

Not all are convinced about the honesty of the project. A local rapper Rooftop tries to warn Heyo about the agency's true motivation to kick-start the Dance Street: sugarcoating for developers in the area that gets gentrified, but the bait is so tempting that no one else is willing to see the kind of impact the project will have on the community.

The film is rich with many ideas, alas – none of them developed to their full potential. Too much time is wasted on splitting attention to multiple characters, or on a “reportage” done by a journalist who follows some of the artists around. Even the neighborhood cats are presented.

On the other hand, the director's decision to shoot some scenes in New York in an attempt to establish a connection between the Hong Kong – and the (original) New York Hip Hop scene in South Bronx, is very interesting. Urban dance legend Willie MB Estrada, Float master John (aka John Rich), Angel Diaz (aka Batch), and even the first Hip Hop comic creator Eric Orr explain the circumstances under which both Hip Hop and the graffiti scene developed 50 years ago. This small piece of documentary towards the film's half, gives a basic lesson on Hip Hop delivered by Float Master John: “You get hip from the knowledge what's going on and you hop to it/ Hip Hop started on the streets and you take it out of its natural environment it starts to get commercial, and watered down.”

The Way We Keep Dancing was the closing film of the 57th Golden Horse Film festival in November, and is now screening at .

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