Shall We Dance? - an Inviting Tale by Homer Yen (c) 1997
If you stand with your eyes closed and listen to the wonderful, musical rhythms of ballroom dance, something strange and vibrant begins to happen. You can feel the music carry you off into a world free of worries. And as you open your eyes and witness the fanciful footwork being displayed on the floor, you feel as if dancing can enable you to fly. Dancing is about joy; freedom; and pure expression.
However, in a society like Japan where lives evolve into monotonous routines, outward expressionism, especially dancing, is viewed with suspicion. This characteristic of the Japanese culture is quickly established as we watch the main character, Mr. Sugiyama, live his life from one day to the next. Middle-aged and seemingly bored with his life, he wakes up very early and comes home very late at night. He is an accountant, accepts his job, loves his family, appreciates his newly bought house, but he never smiles. There is no joy in his heart; his soul if bereft of passion.
One day, as he takes the train home from work, he notices a wistful figure staring out the window of a building. Her solemn look and her stately sadness captures his interest and awakens his heart. He eventually finds the courage to seek her out, and discovers that the office from where she stands is a dancing school, and that she is one of the dance instructors, named Mai. He signs up for lessons, but is a total beginner. However, his goal is to get to know Mai. Unfortunately, he and the other beginners are assigned a different instructor. Nonetheless, he follows his impulses and asks Mai out to dinner, but she rejects him, explaining that there is nothing more important to her than dancing. Icy cold, she also goes on to say that she hopes that he didn't take lessons with going out with her as the goal. The truth hurts, but her words motivate him to continue dancing to prove her wrong. Gradually, the steps come to him, and he discovers that he has a flair for dancing.
Enjoying dance is an embarrassing secret, but after many exhaustive practice sessions, he confesses that even when he's tired, he has never felt more alive. His search for personal freedom, however, may come at a high cost if his actions are discovered. No doubt, if his wife or colleagues knew of it, it would incredibly shame him. Yet, while Mr. Sugiyama's search for individuality is tender, we also learn that Mai has her own secrets and her own personal demons with which she struggles. The collaboration between these two creates a poignant association that allows them to move forward in their personal searches.
The creators of this film not only give us two enjoyable main characters, but they also give us several rich supporting players. These include Aoki, Sugiyama's colleague, who is a shy office worker by day, but at night on the dance floor, transforms himself into an overzealous Fred Astaire. He encourages his boss to dance but warns, "when you love to dance, it becomes second nature. You don't even know you're doing it," he says, as he sashays around the corner. There is also the wife of Sugiyama who grows suspicious when her husband stays out late and comes home showing signs of happiness. And there is also Natsuko, the school's den mother, who imparts not only lessons in dance but also lessons in life. The director also does well to bring out the eccentricities of the Japanese culture from Sugiyama's initial fear of breaking his routine to the weight of the shame that he might eventually face.
During a lesson, Mai emphatically states, "a weak first step transmits nothing!" You'll find that this cute story unfolds with confidence, although "Shall We Dance?" plays more like a stately waltz rather than a quick two-step. In Japanese, with English subtitles, this is a pleasant film about finding personal fulfillment in a Victorian society, where individual needs are not regarded as a high priority. It's about renewal, and it's about discovering the joys of life if you have the heart to break free from societal conformity.
Grade: B
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