Shall We Dance? (a/k/a Shall We Dansu, Japanese with subtitles) Seen on 15 August 1997 for $8.75 by myself at the Loews Tower East.
One benchmark of movie success is the ability to inspire an audience. *Il Postino* spurred more than a few people to investigate poetry. People leaving the theatre attempted a few waltz steps right out front. (This is the same place people wept on the curb after *Fearless*.) It's too soon to know just how many Japanese have taken to the dancefloors, but *Shall We Dance?* did sweep Japan's version of the Oscars.
The opening voice-over informs us that rigid Japanese society (remember the popular phrase, "The nail that stands up gets hammered down" came from there) is such that a married couple rarely touches in public, much less dance. Couples don't even privately say "I love you" all that much.
Such is the rut of Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho), who is married with child, has a boring accounting job in an overcrowded Tokyo office, and has "imprisoned" himself by buying a house (apparently quite a feat for the Japanese bourgeois).
Life runs like a train on its track, until the evening Sugiyama sees Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari) staring forelornly out of the window of a dance studio. Bewitched, Sugiyama looks up each night to see whether or not she is there. Temptation forces him off his subway car and up the stairs and is quite hilariously and literally thrown into the studio; he signs up for some beginners' courses.
A lively comedy ensues as Sugiyama immerses himself into amateur dancing, eventually competing. His new acquaintances include the overweight diabetic Tanaka (Hiromasa Taguchi) whose doctor suggested dancing as exercise, and an older know-it-all; the kindly older Tamako (Reiko Kusamura) who runs the school and Toyoko (Eriko Watanabe), the Rubenesque, tart-tongued fellow student, who has a harsh word for just about everyone. All of these types make a nice recipe for comedy, drama, and some gushy, sentimental moments.
A society that demonizes dancing more taboo the way sexual orientation is here is hard to imagine. But it's easier to imagine than *Footloose*, a town where dancing is forbidden. The Japanese "instinctively" know not to do this sort of thing. When the crazed dancer at the classes turns out of the systems administrator Aoki (Naoto Takenaka), he and Sugiyama guard their secret, afraid of being "outed." They instinctively know ridicule and shame can follow. Accordingly, the camera keeps it's distance and close-ups are used to underscore the drama. The full frame is utilized, and watch for funny little things happening off to the side apart from the main action.
Meanwhile, as Sugiyama dances, his wife gets more and more suspicious. She winds up hiring a very sympathetic private detective.
Overall, this is an excellent movie. All the performances hit their intended marks; the potential for abusing physical comedy is avoided--we are spared a Blake Edwards movie.
My sole complaint is that the movie comes to a snorestill at two distinct times: Once to literally read a letter, and the other to hear a true confessions soliloquy. These are only minor drawbacks, though to one of the most enjoyable films I have seen this summer.
Dance, don't walk, to a theatre near you!
Copyright (c) 1997 Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
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