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Back Shelf Beauties |
Shall We Dance? Japan is better known for its production of electronics and automobiles than for films. However, one of its greatest exports is one of the sweetest films I have seen in years. Special thanks to my friend, Bob McCarson, who told me about this film a few years ago. Shall We Dance stars Koji Yakusho as Mr. Sugiyama - a middle class, accountant with a wife, teenage daughter and a big mortgage. His life has become hum-drum and he has accepted his fate of working his life away to pay the bills. One day, he sees a beautiful, forlorn woman, Mai (Tamiya Kusakari) staring out the window of a dance studio. Sugiyama signs up for dance classes, so he can spend time with this beautiful instructor, but ends up dancing in a beginners class with an older instructor, Tamako (Raiko Kusamara) and the hapless Hattori (Yo Tokui) and Tanaka (Hiromusa Taguchi). Will he get good enough to dance with Mai? Will he start enjoying it? When his wife starts thinking that he is having an affair, will she dump Sugiyama? At the beginning of the movie, we learn that, in Japanese culture, men and women do not engage in the public physical contact that we are used to in America due to stricter social mores. Because of this, dancing is frowned upon as embarrassing and socially inappropriate. By pursuing dance, Sugiyama, Hattori and the rest are a group of rebels defying convention to have a good time and free their souls. They live in a secret underground world. It is uplifting to watch them transform from depressed, boring sadsacks into people full of life. The movie is full of great performances. Tokui provides welcome comic relief as the Mr. Know-It-All who tries to encourage his classmates. Taguchi is lovable as the man who has joined the class to lose weight. However, Naoto Takenaka steals the show as Sugiyama's co-worker, Mr. Aoki - a hilariously quirky man who is lonely and insecure. I don't want to give too much away, but his sub-plot was my favorite part of the film. You also will enjoy Yakusho's portrayal of the man who comes back to life through finding his true love - dance. He is a common man who played by the rules all of his life. However, once he has achieved the goal that society tells him he should strive for, Sugiyama is empty. It wasn't his goal. With dance, he frees himself from his worries and troubles, if only for a short time. Sugiyama has a new goal that he cares about. The other reason I like this movie is because it gave me a new appreciation for the Japanese. Growing up in the eighties, we viewed the Japanese as automatons bent on defeating us economically. That's what all the politicians and business leaders told us. In this film, we see the Japanese as people like us with dreams and troubles; trying to find happiness and meaning in a life that is consumed with work and society's goals. That might be considered a naïve viewpoint by some, but I bet you also have a fuzzy view of Japanese life. Shall We Dance is subtitled, but don't let that scare you off. Check it out this weekend. Grade: A+ Directed and Written by Masayuki Suo Cast Koji Yakusho ……………….. Sugiyama Eriko Watanabe ………………Toyoko Tamiya Kusakari …………….. Mai Hideko Kara ………………….Masako Yo Tokui ……………………..Hattori Naoto Takenaka …………….. Aoki Hirosama Taguchi ………….. Tanaka Raiko Kusamara ……………. Tumako Copyright 2000 - WaffleMovies.com
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