Shall We Dance? (1996)

A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.

Director:

Masayuki Suo

Writer:

Masayuki Suo

Stars:

Kôji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka

55 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kôji Yakusho	...	Shohei Sugiyama (as Koji Yakusho)
Tamiyo Kusakari	...	Mai Kishikawa
Naoto Takenaka	...	Tomio Aoki
Eri Watanabe	...	Toyoko Takahashi (as Eriko Watanabe)
Yu Tokui	...	Tokichi Hattori
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Masahiro Tanaka
Reiko Kusamura	...	Tamako Tamura (as Raiko Kusamura)
Hideko Hara	...	Masako Sugiyama
Hiroshi Miyasaka	...	Macho
Kunihiko Ida	...	Teiji Kaneko
Amie Toujou	...	Hisako Honda
Ayano Nakamura	...	Chikage Sugiyama
Katsunari Mineno	...	Keiri-kachô
Tomiko Ishii	...	Haruko Haraguchi
Maki Kawamura	...	Eiko Miyoshi

Storyline

Shohei Sugiyama has attained all that he has wanted in life. But he is still depressed and unhappy. One day, he gathers up the courage to sign up for dancing lessons. He hopes they will rid his depression and help him get his life back together.

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Plot Keywords:

self discovery | husband wife relationship | tokyo japan | japan | 1990s | 

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Taglines:

He's an overworked accountant. She's an accomplished dancer. Passion is about to find two unlikely partners.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language

Did You Know?

Trivia

A poster on the studio's wall shows a performance photograph of Australian champions Jason Gilkison and Peta Roby.

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Quotes

Mai Kishikawa: This may sound rude, but I hope you don't join the class with me as your goal.

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Alternate Versions

Different prologue: In the beginning of the Japanese version, a voice-over introduces the history and meaning of ballroom dancing in European culture and explains "enjoyed by people of all ages, it is a healthy diversion". The prologue of the US release explains the reserved mannerisms of Japanese culture and that ballroom dancing is considered something like a scandalous pasttime there.

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Connections

Features The Public Eye (1972)

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Soundtracks

Save the Last Dance for Me
Written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus
Performed by The Drifters

User Reviews

A subtle and intricate film

I don't like "grade inflation" but I just had to give this a 10. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. I saw it last night and woke up today thinking about it. 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! Imagine that!

All the characters seemed well-developed, ... even non-primary characters had good character-development and enjoyable acting, and the casting seemed very appropriate.

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... he knows not precisely what.

To the team of people in Japan who contributed to this film, thank you for creating and doing it.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

11 July 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shall We Dance?

Filming Locations:

Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$9,499,091

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,499,091

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daiei Studios, Nippon Television Network (NTV), Hakuhodo

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min 119 min (USA) (cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1