Shall we dansu?

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a close-up of the inscription above the stage in the ballroom of the Blackpool Tower: "Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear", from the poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. As the camera pans around the ballroom giving a view of the dancers, a voice-over explains that in Japan, ballroom dancing is treated with suspicion.
Shohei Sugiyama (Kōji Yakusho) is a successful salaryman, with a house in the suburbs, a devoted wife, Masako (Hideko Hara), and a teenage daughter, Chikage (Ayano Nakamura). He works as an accountant for a firm in Tokyo. Despite these external signs of success, however, Sugiyama begins to feel as if his life has lost direction and meaning and falls into depression.
One night, while coming home on the Tokyo Subway, he spots a beautiful woman with a melancholy expression looking out from a window in a dance studio. This is Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari), a well-known figure on the Western ballroom dance circuit. Sugiyama becomes infatuated with her and decides to take lessons in order to get to know her better.
Sugiyama's life changes once his classes begin. Rather than Mai, his teacher is Tamako Tamura (Reiko Kusamura), who becomes an important mentor to him. He meets his classmates: Tōkichi Hattori (Yu Tokui) who joined to impress his wife, and Masahiro Tanaka (Hiromasa Taguchi) who joined to lose weight. He also meets Toyoko Takahashi (Eriko Watanabe), another student. He further discovers that one of his colleagues from work Tomio Aoki (Naoto Takenaka) is a regular at the dance studio. Aoki, who is balding and mocked at work for his rigid ways, is revealed to be leading a secret life as a long-haired (via a wig) ballroom dancer. Though distant from her, the classes increase his infatuation for Mai. His secret thus becomes twofold: not only must he hide the lessons from his wife, he must also hide them from his friends and colleagues as it is considered embarrassing according to traditional Japanese customs to participate in Western ballroom dance.
Later, after being rebuffed by Mai, Sugiyama discovers to his surprise that his passion for ballroom dance outweighs his infatuation with her. Indeed, dancing, rather than Mai, gives Sugiyama the meaning in life that he was looking for.
Masako, noticing his odd behavior, thinks that he is having an affair — so she hires a private detective to follow him. Meanwhile, along with his classmates, Sugiyama enters an amateur competition – only to find out that his wife, having finally learned the truth from the detective (who has now become a devoted fan of ballroom dancing) is in the audience. Surprised by this, he stumbles and nearly knocks his dance partner to the floor. Though he is able to catch her, he accidentally rips the skirt of her dress off. Both leave the contest. Later, they learn that Tomio won the contest. When Tomio is ridiculed at work after his colleagues read of his success in the newspaper, Sugiyama stands up and tells them not to make fun of something they don't understand.
At home, Sugiyama's wife tries to understand her husband's new passion by asking him to teach her to dance as well. He is invited to a good-bye party for Mai, who is leaving for Blackpool. At the party, Mai joins him to dance, asking him "Shall we dance?"

Tags: romantic

Review:
Watched this last night and was bowled over by the heartfelt story line, the excellent character development, and the good karmic vibe emanating from the acting and movie as a whole.Without giving away too much of the plot, it begins with an ordinary joe who commutes to his office job every day who becomes inspired to take dance lessons.
All of the film's characters are taken seriously, as they are, and none are diminished because of their "imperfections."I've been thinking about taking social dance classes with some friends.
Watch this wonderful family film (small children might not get it, but teens certainly would) and smile at the genuine caring you see shown in it time and again.Why they would make a remake of Shall We Dance is a mystery, as it is perfect as-is..
From there he bonds with four other dancers and learns to enjoy dancing as well as finding out about the mysterious woman.There is no gratuitous (or any) sex involved, just how a small group of people learn how friendships are formed and developed.This film was remade with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez and the new one while appealing is nowhere as enjoyable as the original.
He assumes this is all there is to life until he accidentally takes up dancing, all because he wanted to get a closer look of a beautiful girl that he sees by the dance studio everyday while riding the subway on his way home.His was infatuated with her at first, going to the dance class just to idolize her, but he eventually lets himself go and gets himself into the dancing.
There is a set of oddball characters also learning in the studio, giving the film a lot of laughs and some sense of bonding between the dejected.There is also revelations of various characters, including the girl he initially admired, giving some depth to them by showing their blemished past and their struggle to overcome it.The dancing was also engaging, with the big competition at the end, but it is not the usual story where our underdog come out at the top by winning it.
While some of you may find the dancing scenes not as perfect as you expect, I kinda like it as it makes me feel that the characters are really "alive", learning to dance as the film goes on.Over all, this film is encouraging and heart-warming.
I'm sure that the Hollywood remake that someone told me about, with J Lo and Richard Gear, will be excellent, but this original Japanese version from 1996 was so emotional and thought-provoking for me that I am hard-pressed to think of any way that it could be improved, or its setting changed to a different culture.A story I found worth watching, and with o fist-fight scenes or guns going off or anything of the sort!
It's always hard to find a good movie-musical in our day and age, and perhaps this doesn't quite qualify (there is plenty of learning how to dance, but no singing) but I really think that Gene Kelly and others who championed a place for dance in our lives would have thought so very highly of this film and the role of dance in helping to tell a story about a middle aged man, successful with a family in Japan, looking for something...
In Japan, a man who is bored with his mundane life and the rut of his married life, sees a beautiful Japanese woman staring out the window of a dance studio.
First, there is NO way the remake can be as good, because Japanese society is quite different from ours and plays such a major part in this film, as explained in the opening narration.
Mr Sugiyama is a middle-aged member of a Japanese society where ballroom dancing is viewed as unsuitable behaviour.
There are many other funny and warm-hearted scenes.The ending is not a fairytale, but it leaves the viewer feeling good.This movie helped me to understand the Japanese people a little better.
The ONLY reason the original film did not become more widely viewed is the US audience's aversion to subtitles.One of the main reasons this movie would never work in an American telling is that the reserved, ultra socially conservative character of the public Japanese persona is at issue in this movie.
Certainly the main character awakens to a more full understanding of living a vivacious life through dance, but half of the movie's tension comes from the stereotypes and ridicule ballroom dancers face in Japan.Please try to see this movie in it's original form, not the terrible full screen.
And please DO skip the US remake....it's a shallow travesty in comparison to the original Japanese movie.Yes, I know the "original" movie is much older, and this is simply a Japanese take on the story, but the only two people are likely to see any time soon are this one and the new US remake.Speaking of foreign films, I'll make a few quick recommendations: 1.Monsoon Wedding-I list this first for a reason, outstanding film!
Don't get me wrong, it is 100% Japanese (and that is what makes it work), but everyone will get something out of it (even if it is just a great laugh at one of the main characters called Mr. Aoki - one of the funniest characters I have ever seen!)I can't even think of this movie without smiling!!
These are all words that floated through my head while I was watching this beautiful, simple film.It is rare that a movie truly moves me, but "Shall We Dance?" accomplished that with grace to spare.
It was absolutely enchanting, even the parts that show Sugiyama's (touchingly portrayed by Koji Yakusho) stilted steps when he was first learning to dance were lovely in a humorous, child-like way.
We witness a shy man learning to express his repressed feelings through dance, a beautiful dance instructor rediscovering her love for the art, and the personal growth of every member of the wonderful supporting cast.Beauty.
All the love and little agonies of life are here, expressed with the delicate feeling of a fine Japanese watercolor painting combined with the emotional strength and grace of the culture..
If you are tired of films trying too hard to be fairy tales (the "Pretty Woman" variety love story), here is a beautiful film in which a Japanese businessman is pulled free from his robotic, dispassionate life when he falls in love...with dancing.
What makes it work so well, and makes it so different from the standard dance movie is that it really isn't about becoming "Great" it is simply about finding a way to express one's self.
No one is discovering their passion, they are finding their quiet soul.The Japanese background makes the subtle oppression and "secret life" of ballroom dancing both understandable and personal.
But to me the big bonus is the look this movie gives the viewer into Japanese society - real life in Japan.
The result is a movie that will pull you in, make you laugh, make you think, and both entertain you and give you insight into today's Japan.Also look for the the main 8 actors from Shiko Funjatta, as they all appear again in various roles, from supporting characters (Takenaka) to short cameos (many)..
But you also felt the compelling will to get out there to dance and compete.In the end, you would not get the woman, but you would have learned something about yourself and the person you are, not the one other people peg you to be.I hope to see more films of this type on screen.
A Perfectly Polished Gem. What makes "Casablanca" the great movie it is is that it doesn't try to tell the history of the world; it is not an epic; it is a perfectly polished little gem, "the problems of three little people" told exquisitely."Shall We Dance" is such a polished gem.
Set in the Japanese culture where all dancing is suspect, a middle-class middle-management man who has lost the luster of his life sees a beautiful young woman looking wistfully out the window of a dance studio and, eventually, goes looking for her.
A middle age man,  trapped in a conventional life,  passes by a dance studio on his trip home by train every night and sees a beautiful woman teaching.
They are two funny character actors.One could purchase and read a college text book regarding the structure of life in Japan, or, you could watch this fine film and begin to understand how thepeople of Japan grow up in a fairly rigid societal structure.
"Shall We Dance?", a light-hearted flick from Japan, tells of an overworked accountant and family man who is attracted to a dance studio by a beautiful woman he see's from the train during his daily commute.
The only defect in this film is that its story is ultimately cliche and somewhat trite (of course, this applies to 95% of all movies made).The incredible awkwardness and discomfort of the main character as he enters the world of ballroom dancing in order to appease mid-life crisis is classic.
The incidental characters in the dance class are appropriately humorous, and the focus is never really on the world of ballroom competition, but on the much more interesting and accessible world of human emotion and interaction.If you don't enjoy this movie, you haven't got a sentimental bone in your body.
This great little movie gives foreigners real insight into Japanese life in the city and suburbs and the cultural restraints that everyone must live with daily in modern life.
This is a very real and funny movie about a Japanese man having a mid-life crisis.
Attitudes to ballroom dancing, as conveyed in the film, are definitely non-Western, though the discipline and the music are clearly cultural imports to Japan.
A delightful family film, as much about Japanese culture as Ballroom dancing..
This is far more than the charming story of middle-aged man discovering the pleasures of ballroom dancing (although it IS that as well).
While it will inevitably be compared with Strictly Ballroom, its lightness and feel-good quality sets it apart from all pretenders.The charming awkwardness of the protagonist Shohei Sugiyama (played by Koji Yakusho) and the alluring beauty of Mai Kishikawa (played by Tamiyo Kusikari) are enhanced by a raft of absurd and captivating secondary characters.There are few people anywhere who will not be enthralled by this little film..
In the website of "shall we dance" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358135/ they also admit that they adapted the movie from this movie by Masayuki Suo.The movie is very beautiful, if you know the Japanese society, the movie creates a character who is depressed by the stressing society.
It demonstrates how gentleness and concern for others actually helps improve everyone's life.I recommend Shall We Dansu highly for anyone wanting to see a good story.So many movies today are big on action, but small on plot.
Nearly 15 years after its release, its only now that I have had the pleasure of seeing it.The story focuses on a man undergoing a mid-life crisis who spontaneously takes up ballroom dancing.
For Mr. Sugiyama, a middle-aged accountant with a wife and daughter, it begins at a commuter train stop where he spies a young woman looking out the upper-story window of the Kishikawa School of Dancing, and is captivated.
The focus on body-movement in this movie eventually sensitizes you to the movements of the characters to the degree that you start to think they're all dancing, all the time.
It's surprising to see that the two films have the same starting-point, however, Shall we Dansu uses surprisingly little sentimental effects and integrates the dancing into the plot wonderfully.
Shall We Dance is an excellent film because it shows how something, like dancing, can rejuvenate the life flow in the human spirit.
A humorous tale of a passion for ballroom dancing and unrequited love with a cast of delightfully lovable characters including that of the man's wife.
Wonderful Movie of Japanese Attraction to Western Styles in Dance and Love.
Instead of reiterating the many thoughtful statements about this movie, I'd like to add the following comments about how this film compares to the American version, in case you were wondering which to watch.
2) A big difference is that the Japanese film uses dance as simply part of the story, while the American version relies on flashy music and more expert dancing to capture the audience, not trusting the story to work by itself.
3) Both stories show how one middle-aged man deals with his feelings of being trapped in routine, by doing something difficult and beautiful: ballroom dancing.
4) Both films have great supporting characters and story lines, but the American version is more rushed and crowded.
6) The Japanese film has a wonderful storyline about marriage that is more subtle and touching than the American movie version (where Susan Sarandon is too on the nose in some of her speeches).
The Japanese wife of the man with a secret dancing life is a terrific supporting character.
I've been watching ballroom dancing for many years, and enjoyed watching her in the American film.
9) Watch the Japanese film first, when you are in the mood to get absorbed in the characters' lives.
Obviously, the dancing of the film is the highlight, and what will bring people to this movie.
In an ordinary movie, you'd have a love story between the character of the businessman and the aloof dancer/instructor.
Not being a fan of ballroom dancing at all, I didn't expect this film to keep me watching as it did.
I've seen 'Strictly Ballroom', which was amusing, but this Japanese comedy is so very heartwarming, gentle and elegant that it's hard not to love it.The story of a bored accountant who finds pleasure in dancing is perhaps very simple, yet when one adds to this the Japanese cultural embarrassment of physical contact in public, it takes on a new light.
If you are a ballroom dancer or have ever taken lessons, you will draw on that experience as you watch.This could be a good family film if the kids are old enough (12?) and can deal with the subtitles.
Sugiyama-san (Kôji Yakusho), a salaryman with a loving wife and daughter, is still in an emotional rut until he sees a beautiful woman gazing out window of a dancing school.
The contrast between the Japanese society, and the way of life, with the whole history makes the movies much more interesting.
The dances were so fascinating and I loved the plot of the movie.I believe that even though it was Japanese, people will love the movie all together and want to watch it over and over and over again.
And, this film does a very good job of showing the awkwardness and difficulty of the Japanese to learn to dance – especially the men.
There isn't a lot of gut-busting humor, but it's sweet and certainly worth some smiles.Finally, again similar to "Living Out Loud", the film has something to say about getting through life's down times.Who should see this film:-- drama / romance types-- foreign film lovers, this one's a keeper-- people like me who don't mind intellectual films if they're not too arty or slow-paced, this one's safeI'll give "Shall We Dance?" a 7 out of 10..
I haven't seen this movie yet, though it's been recommended to me and I look forward to watching it on DVD.But I thought I should point something out because a lot of people seem to be comparing the newest version (Richard Gere) with "Shall we Dansu" and referring to "Shall we Dansu" as the original.The Japanese film is NOT the original, and it has had several incarnations, as a search on IMDb.com will tell you.
Aoki explains to Sugiyama, "When I finish work, put on the clothes, the wig and become Donny Burns, Latin world champion, and I start to move to the rhythm, I'm so happy, so completely free." Here lies the chief charm of Shall We Dance, the contrast between the ultra-competitive women of the studio--including the one who caught Sugiyama's eye, Mai --and the men who dance simply because they enjoy it.This is a great film tackles issues such as the views on men in the Japanese culture,mid-life crisis and ballroom dancing.The cast in the film were excellent.This is one of the best Japanese films I have ever seen.And it is not a horror film.It takes into consideration the pains of middle-age and the need to feel alive during that stage.Overall,it is the best Japanese films I have ever seen.
I saw the American cut of this Japanese movie, which has several scenes and characters removed.
At that, "Shall We Dance" is a charming movie with tons of heart.
But they develop a relationship on another, still meaningful level."Shall We Dance" is also the title of a 1937 Astaire-Rogers film, and the Japanese version was remade under the same title in 2004, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
A Japanese salaryman (Koji Yakusho) feeling jaded by work and bored with his family life, joins a ballroom dancing class.Shall We Dance?
This is the original Shall We Dansu, a Japanese film that takes a look at the society around it and the shameful act of dancing.
However, this is a very funny film with a very interesting story line.The one thing to be aware of is that this is the original Japanese version.
Sugiyama is a respectable Japanese man that works as a businessman and has a wife and daughter, so it is out of the norm for him to take dancing lessons.
Masayuki shows the humor of Japanese customs and how people must keep their lives secret to avoid humiliation.The acting in Shall We Dansu was the best part of the movie.
As for the characters focused on in the story, all of them secretly love to dance.