Break Free

Since 2010, various Japanese prefectures have been restructuring the way that they deal with the yakuza. Rather than engaging in armed combat or simply arresting them for violent crimes when there’s a chance that those can be proven, they have increasingly focused on interfering with the way that they do business. This has reduced the appeal of joining a yakuza clan and, filmmaker Yu Nakamoto posits, left some clans looking for alternative sources of income.

Break Free does not begin with dance, but with something similar: a balletic bar fight in which violence is delivered via beautifully choreographed movements, also allowing room for humour which helps us to like these people in spite of what they do. Still, warns their boss, they can’t expect to keep getting away with such things. We watch them experiment with alternatives. Kazu, the youngest of the group, tries mascoting, dressing up as a pink rabbit and standing in the street with balloons; but when an obnoxious teenager tries to provoke him, things don’t turn out as planned for either of them. Jiro, by contrast, gets a job in a BBQ restaurant and seems to be getting along fairly well, just terrifying the occasional TikTok influencer. Kunio, who happens to be dining there when this goes down, finds himself harassed outside by a smug civilian who points out that he can’t hit back due to the new laws. When, instead, Kunio (Akito Fujii) intimidates him by improvising a dance-off, one of the TikTokers uploads it, and it goes viral.

This is not, of course, the first Japanese film about a middle-aged man discovering himself through dance. Few individual movies have had quite as much impact on the Zeitgeist as Masayuki Suo’s surprise 1996 hit Shall We Dance – but that was ballroom and this is something very different. Furthermore, it’s one thing to enter that world as a mild mannered accountant – quite another to do so as a yakuza who has dedicated most of his life to violence. There’s an emotive subplot about Kunio’s younger brother, who was interested in dance, but in the present, the Mikami clan struggles to adjust. The boss’ enthusiasm for exploiting this opportunity leads to a series of attempts at video-making sabotaged by the shadows of beatings or bloody victims accidentally getting in shot, but in the end it’s the dancing that falls short.

A dance class is the obvious solution – one with a pretty, upbeat teacher, Marie, who presents the possibility of romance, as well as an ambitious child, Uika, who becomes an ally. High profile contests offer a shot at stardom, but is he good enough? Nakamoto has fun with his own version of the Rocky training montage. Meanwhile, Kunio has to navigate ongoing yakuza business, as his clan’s former rivals have no interest in giving up violence – and keeping his two lives separate becomes more and more difficult.

Fujii is a trained dancer very much at ease in the role, but it’s his ability to be both po-faced and charismatic that really makes this work. Nakamoto maintains a playful vibe with bright colours and fast-paced action sequences, as our hero’s newfound passion begins to change his whole approach to life and inspire those around him. It’s not all done by the book, so there are a few surprises along the way, but most important is simply that it’s fun to watch, aware of its limits and playing to its strengths. In a cynical age, it’s an invitation to set your worries aside and remember how to play.

Break Free screened as part of the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

Reviewed on: 21 Jul 2026