ihrtfilms This documentary follows the finalists at the 2007 Red Bull One B-boy championships in Johannesburg where 16 compete in a b-boy battle. We get to meet a handful of these guys who come from far and wide, Senegal, France, Algeria, Japan and Brazil amongst others. We see some of the dancers in the home countries, where we learn a little about their life, their background and their passion. This is all interspersed with footage of the actual battle.Taking place in a disused power station, the crowd are fully pumped and the atmosphere is electric as the dancers compete, before whittling them down towards the final two. Using some superb camera work including slow motion (think The Matrix), we get to see and appreciate fully how brilliant these guys are. The dancing never fails to amaze; at times it's almost as is the camera speed had been adjusted, but we really are seeing it as it is. The skill, power and athleticism is on full display and after each battle the exhaustion shows.Of the guys the film focus's on, we get to see them in their own homes and countries; the passion they have almost consumes them and it's this passion that makes these people so wonderful to watch. It's just a shame that more of the finalists are covered in more depth as well and that we only get to meet a handful of the final 16.For anyone who has seen the brilliant B-boy documentary Planet B-boy, this may disappoint a little. Planet B-boy covered a battle of b-boy groups instead of individuals, but those that they focused on were covered with more depth and there was more of a connection to them. Still, the film while not as powerful as Planet B-boy, is still quite moving as the passion keeps spirit alive of many who have come from difficult backgrounds and is for most crushed as they get knocked out. It's mostly about the dancing itself, but this is never the less fascinating and compelling viewing.More of my reviews at iheartfilms.weebly.com

Iain Watson Seven years ago at the Edinburgh Film Festival I was lucky enough to see a 'Breathe Control', a documentary about the unofficial fifth element of Hip-Hop, Beat-Boxing. I say 'lucky' because the film was never released, and lots of people still want to see it - My review is still on the films page on IMDb. 'Turn it Loose' feels like part two of in an 'Elements' documentary series, focusing as it does on another one of Hip-Hop's elements, Break dancing... or to give it it's accepted term 'B- Boying'.Every year see's Red Bull put on the One B-Boy Championship where dancers square off against each other in a knock-out one-on-one tournament. Each dancer dances three short 30 second rounds against each other in an arena while the crowd cheers and whoops it up from the stands. Hong 10 won the tournament in 2006, and returns to defend his titles in 2007's battle, which the documentary is based around. Hong 10 is a young Japanese kid who lives for the thrill of that baying crowd. He compares the rush he gets in the battle and from the cheers with almost drowning as a kid, that sense of panic when you know you are out of breath.Lilou is a cocky French Algerian who won the competition in 2005 but got put out in the first round in 2006. He refuses to hand back his winning Championship belt to Red Bull as without it he is nothing. He's a Muslim and we see him praying to Mecca in the build up to the competition, which he enters wearing a traditional Arab headscarf to show his solidarity with Muslims around the world when he battles American Roxrite in the semifinal.Roxrite wins, and the crowd starts booing. Lilou takes this as a personal win. Roxrite puts it down to the fact he's American. The championship takes place in Johannesburg, and he says everyone thinks it's all great for everyone in the US. We learn he's had a tough life and grew up homeless on the streets with his family and he believes that's what gave him his drive to succeed in the B-Boy world.My favourite B-Boyer was Taisuke, not for his abilities (Roxrite perhaps the most technically accomplished dancer), but for his Samurai-like take on life. He lives on his own in Tokyo after leaving his disapproving parents in Nagasaki. His entire life is dedicated to the art of B- Boying. He says "I live for the Breakbeat. Even when I'm old I will always remember the Breakbeat. It's with me till I die". I just wish it wasn't in Japanese, but English, so I could sample it for a tune.The introduction of each character always takes parts during one of the battles. The camera will freeze in the middle of an amazing move and we hear the bboy's voice-over. It had a feel of Caradiru/City of God feel to it - IE. I am Lilou, this is my story. While I liked this at first it started to grate after a while as it interrupted the flow of the battles themselves. This narration also felt a bit too 'X-Factor'/BGT at times, every B-Boyer giving us a tragic story relating to his life, that while I sympathised, was unnecessary.While I really enjoyed the film, that came from the characters, their personal philosophies and the little moments of comedy that came from those beliefs. The dancing whilst spectacular did get a little samey at times, and because of this I'm willing to forgive the continuous character story interruptions as it might have been a poorer film without them. However I couldn't help but feel a lack of emotional connection between filmmaker and subject that was abundant in 'Breathe Control'. What BC lacked in budget, cinematography and direction it more than made up for in it's enthusiasm for the subject matter. 'Turn it Loose' seemed to be made by an insider looking into a scene he isn't part of. The film was made by an ex music video director, Alastair Siddons in conjunction with the sponsors Red Bull and I feel this corporate driving force was to the film's detriment. I'm going to dig out 'Planet B-Boy' on DVD now, hopefully that will be free of corporate shilling.PS. A bonus of the feature was also seeing Spike Jonze's new short featuring skaters in slow motion, on the build up to tricks. It continuously cut to another just as the money shot was about to happen and eventually built to a collage of stunts where the ramps exploded. Very cool.