Move Ya Body: The Birth of House

Director Elegance Bratton’s documentary “Move Ya Body: The Birth of House “ sets out to tell the story of how house music was born, mixing archival footage, interviews, and cinematic recreations to dive into this pivotal moment in music history. It’s an ambitious film, exploring the rise of house music from Chicago’s underground scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but most of the material covered deals with everything but the actual music.

With interviews and archival material, Bratton crafts a story about breaking down barriers (both musically and socially), exploring how music brought people together at a time of intense division. There’s a lot of important history here and while it’s great that the film wants to honor all these facets of house music’s rise, it often feels overloaded. By tackling racism, homophobia, the death of disco, gentrification, and more, the film loses focus. By the time it’s over, it feels like an unsatisfying history lesson rather than a cohesive, focused narrative.

The stagy recreations don’t help because they feel too planned out, draining the organic, raw energy that you’d expect from such an iconic cultural movement. At least the documentary is informative, and it does shine a light on a story that doesn’t get enough attention.

The subject matter is interesting and “Move Ya Body” is definitely a valuable documentary, but it feels alienating in its specificity of topic. Messy and overstuffed, the film isn’t as easily accessible as you’d expect, but it’s a good vehicle for those looking to learn about the roots of house music and its lasting cultural significance.

By: Louisa Moore / SCREEN ZEALOTS