I can't explain it, but some of the best documentaries I have ever seen have been about subjects that I had little to no prior interest or knowledge of. Maybe since I'm being informed on things I didn't know before, it seems more fresh than a topic that I am all too familiar with. Two years ago I fell in love with Patrick Creadon's Wordplay, which was about crossword puzzles (something I hated in the past). I've seen a lot of documentaries since then, but none that have created the same sort of glee that Wordplay did, especially on a subject I didn't care about. That is until I saw Benson Lee's brilliant documentary Planet B-Boy.

Planet B-Boy tackles the topic of break-dancing. Now I know to some who might be reading this, the idea of watching a documentary about break-dancing might not seem all that interesting. And I would understand, since that is how I pretty much felt going into the movie. But as the minutes whizzed by, I found myself more and more absorbed in the film.

In the beginning of the film we get to see a little history of break-dancing. I found it amazing that break-dancing took a lot of influence from things like Kung Fu flicks, gymnastics and even soul legend James Brown. From there we learn about a tournament, called "Battle of the Year," which is held in Germany. Break-dancing groups from all around the world battle it out to be crowned the best of the best.

The movie allows the contestants in the tournament to speak for themselves. I found the selected groups the film focuses on, which were five teams (Phase-T from France, Ichigeki from Japan, Knucklehead Zoo from The United States, and two Korean groups; Gamblerz and Last for One), to be very interesting people. Some are humble with how far they've gotten with break-dancing, and some of them are arrogant with their success. And it was funny to see that a lot of them suffer some real life versions of the cliche moments in scripted movies that deal with dancing.

What I admired the most about the film was that it tried to show break-dancing as a legitimate form of art and dance. I must admit that in the past I saw it as just randomly selected dance moves, with little to no merit. But my opinion has vastly changed after seeing this movie. These people put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and hours into their routines. They may be divided due to language barriers, but break-dancing has brought them together. And they are together in one of my favorite movies of 2008