(In Japan, it doesn‘t matter if you have two left feet - as long as you have a hot dance instructor…)
CAST: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eri Watanabe, Yu Tokui, Hiromasu Taguchi, Reiko Kusamura.
DIRECTOR: Masayuki Suo
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and surprisingly passionate Japanese salary men - straight ahead…
There are some nationalities that you automatically associate with dancing. Typically, these are the Southern European, South American, Southeast Asian, and African folks - in other words, nations with passionate dispositions. Indeed, when I think of the people in my orbit who can cut holes into the dance floor, I immediately think of the ones who are Spanish, African, Italian, South American, Philippine - or descended from those nationalities. One nationality that definitely does not spring immediately to mind, however, is Japanese.
I think a prerequisite of being a good dancer is being in touch with your emotions and passions, and having the ability to focus, channel, and release them through your movements. And I hate to say this, but the Japanese aren’t exactly the most passionate of people - unless we’re talking crazy samurais trying to dice the shit out of each other, or a bunch of Japanese tourists going buck-wild at the sight of Clint Eastwood. Which is actually probably a result of all that passion being suppressed like a gigantic fart that finally just explodes, causing some internal rupturing and burst eardrums all around.
The point is the Japanese, while lovely and noble people, are not the type to give each other hugs and high-fives in public - even if they are man and wife. It’s just not done. Contrast this with us Americans, who think we’re being subtle when we only unbutton three instead of five buttons on our significant other’s shirt while making out in line at the movie theatre. When I see this, I like to turn to them and politely say in Italian: “Prendetevi Una Stanza, stronzos…” Which roughly translates to: “Get a room, assholes!” But, as I mentioned before, everything sounds great in Italian, so these folks basically smile and say, “Awww, that’s sweet of you” - before going back and tasting each other’s tonsils once more.
But I digress. Again. Basically, the Japanese are very, very, very repressed. And it eventually comes out in a variety of disturbing ways: (1) subway groping, (2) luridly kinky comic books, (3) thoroughly “WTF?” hairstyles and fashions, (4) worshipping SLIVER almost as much as they worship TITANIC and AVATAR, and (5) … taking covert ballroom dancing lessons.
Yes, you read that last part correctly. Something that is treated as a humdrum part of daily life in the West (specifically, people who can’t dance worth a shit who have to pay people who can dance to teach them how to dance worth a shit) is something very unusual in the Land of the Rising Sun. To the point where most of the people who take dance lessons have to hide the fact as something shameful, as if they were taking prostitution classes or something. Insert “I Want To Be A HO!” training video joke here.
At any rate, our hero is bored accountant Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho). For Sugiyama, his life has basically become like a PowerPoint presentation with only four slides set in a continuous loop: (1) Work, (2) Commute, (3) Eat, and (4) Sleep. I wish I could add a fifth slide called “Fuck” somewhere in that mix, but sadly I see no evidence that his wife Masaka (Hideko Hara) puts out anything but dinner. But for a harried salaryman, that maybe the most important thing. He can always jack off in the shower or something.
Fortunately, this never-ending Slide Show Of Doom is interrupted one night by something semi-interesting while Sugiyama is on his way home. That is, he looks up from his train seat during a stop and sees: a smokin’ hot chick staring out from the window of a building nearby, deep in thought. He spots her a couple more times, until he can’t contain his curiosity (or boner) anymore, and jumps off the train to… I guess stalk her or something. Like I said, this is a country that reveres SLIVER just as much as it does TITANIC and AVATAR. Why are you even surprised?
So… turns out the mysterious hot chick is dance instructor Mai Kishikawa (Tamiyo Kusakari), and the window she stares out every night belongs to a dance school. Before you know it, Sugiyama has has signed up for dance classes to get to know Mai better. Meanwhile, Masaka (remember her - Sugiyama’s wife?) gets suspicious of all his “late nights at the office” and hires a private investigator to tail Sugiyama and see what the hell hubby has been up to. Methinks we gots a situation here. And I don’t mean the one that runs around the Jersey Shore wearing enough gold chains to be seen from space.
Is Sugiyama really interested in an affair with Mai? Or is he just interested in being friends? What happens when he discovers that he actually likes dancing? Will his newfound knowledge of salsa, rumba, tango, and swing fire up his personality? And what happens when Masaka’s private dick tells her that her husband has not been cheating on her - but instead has been taking secret dance lessons? Is that actually worse than being fucked around on? Will Masaka confront Sugiyama? Will Sugiyama’s co-workers discover his secret? And how will Sugiyama, Mai, and the rest of the dancing clas prepare for the dance competition they find themselves part of? Will Sugiyama vindicate himself in the end? Or should he have left all the dancing to the Italians, Spanish, and Filipinos?
Time will tell. Let’s just say the last time I saw a Japanese person light up the dance floor was when a friend got drunk back in Japan and almost burned the place down. I guess you could say he literally lit up the dance floor. It was terrifying, yet deeply hilarious at the same time.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: There are some films that are cinematic contradictions - movies with characters engaging in activities not usually associated with their normal daily lives or cultures. These movies are part are closely related to the “Fish Out of Water“ genre, but have more cultural aspects to them. One of my favorites of this type of film is COOL RUNNINGS from 1993, which chronicled the real-life story of a bob-sled team culled from the shores of Jamaica - a nation not normally associated with bob-sledding.
With SHALLWE DANCE?, we have the same type of incongruous set-up: characters from a culture known for being unemotional, stoic, and passive find themselves indulging in an activity - ballroom dancing - that calls for the polar opposites of those traits. Namely, fire, passion, and expressiveness. It’s a great set-up, and one that immediately makes you lean forward with interest. Particularly if you have lived in Japan and have noted how reserved and structured the Japanese can be. We Americans take for granted the way our culture rewards and encourages individuality. In Japan, it is much more precarious proposition.
This is the reason why the 2004 American remake, while being a solid film and great experience in its own right, is not quite as glorious as the original. Japan is a society where people have to conceal their passions, which makes Sugiyama’s journey to learn how to dance a perilous one. He risks ridicule - from his colleagues and family - yet he forges ahead anyway in the manner of a person who has to do what he must do to fulfill himself.
The American remake with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, by contrast, turns the dilemma into a more personal rather than cultural one. John Clark (the Sugiyama character played by Gere) is portrayed as someone who has always buried his feelings - and lets loose when he impulsively takes dancing lessons in an effort to get to know better the mysterious Paulina (Jennifer Lopez). Society has not made him reserved - he has done this to himself. So, really, he’s rebelling against himself. Sugiyama, by comparison, is rebelling against his whole world - and that is a more compelling battle.
The entire cast is perfect. The main leads of Koji Yakusho, Reiko Kusamura, and Tamiyo Kusakari all terrific as, respectively: (1) Sugayama, the meek accountant who inadvertently discovers a passion for dancing; (2) Masaka, Sugayama’s befuddled wife who is just as much taken aback by her husband’s foray into dancing as he is; and (3) Mai, the mysterious beauty whose aloof distance conceals an ocean of hidden emotion and heartbreak. What’s great about SHALL WE DANCE? is how it refuses to cheapen Sugayama and Mai’s connection by introducing sex into the mix. Theirs is a friendship based on mutual respect and appreciation for the art of dancing. One of the major things the remake duplicates - and even improves upon - from the original is how Sugiyama’s platonic “romance” with Mia actually improves and strengthens his own true romance with his wife Masaka.
In the end, SHALL WE DANCE? is an unexpected - and unexpectedly lovely - valentine not just to the art of dance, but also to all passionate pursuits - regardless of type: soccer, basketball, writing, singing, painting, hiking, poetry, etc. Just as BULL DURHAM essayed the love for baseball, SHALL WE DANCE? breaks down our timeless fascination for dancing. It’s also a valentine to all transformative friendships - the kind that leaves you different and better than you were before.
