Masayuki Suo's comedy drama Shall We Dance? bucked the box-office trend in Japan last year, taking an unexpected $30 million at the Japanese box office and giving US films a run for their money. What's more, the film's depiction of ballroom dancing managed to start a new dance craze.
It's not difficult to spot why Shall We Dance? persuaded Japanese audiences to forego an evening out with a Hollywood blockbuster in favour of a local film. It's a classy, somewhat conservative comedy romance that pushes all the right buttons. In many ways, it reminds you of a classic Hollywood romance - a movie that, had it been made 40 years ago in Hollywood, could have featured Japanese favourite Audrey Hepburn.
Shall We Dance? tells the story of a man coming to terms with middle age through his involvement in ballroom dancing. Soyhei is a 42-year-old salary man - one of those faceless Japanese white-collar workers who have dedicated themselves to their job and family - who begins to feel disillusioned with life. One evening at a train station, he catches a glimpse of a beautiful woman, Mai, standing in the window of a dance school.
Mai, it transpires, is a doleful dance tutor, lamenting the fact that she muffed her one big chance in a major competition by a making a false move.
Throwing caution to the wind, Soyhei enrols at the school in an effort to seduce Mai. But instead, he himself is seduced - by the fine art of ballroom dancing. Although he can't quite shake Mai's elegant charms from his head, Soyhei becomes entranced by the dancing itself, and this finally provides him with a release for his pent-up emotions. Some are saved by Christ, some by rock and roll, but salary man Soyhei is saved by the rumba and the foxtrot.
"With Shall We Dance? I wanted to attract a different audience to usual," says 40-year-old director Masayuki Suo. "I wanted to make a romantic story for middle-aged people and salary men. While I was considering how to create a realistic romantic situation, I noticed that there were a lot of dance schools near to railway stations. So it was possible that a salary man could chance upon a beautiful dance teacher standing at a window."
When Suo began to research ballroom dancing in Japan, he discovered that learning the skill seemed to transform the normally staid, inexpressive salary men. "I watched them dancing and saw how they became fascinated by it. I never realised that Japanese businessmen could be transformed into such happy creatures by dancing. It goes against the stereotypical image of the salary man. I could see a little more of what they were about when they danced. They were really letting themselves go. It was as if they had hidden away their emotions for a long time, and had suddenly found a way of expressing themselves."
The salary men in the film are, initially anyway, a sad bunch. Soyhei is so isolated from his long-suffering wife that he can disappear for a dance lesson whenever the fancy takes him. Meanwhile, his conspirator in crime, Aoki - played by actor/director Naoto Takenaka - can only function as a human being when he is in costume as a flamboyant Latin dancer.
The duo seem to have had all their vitality extinguished by a life of dull conformity. They hide their increasing dance skills from their work colleagues as if they were guilty secrets, sneaking into the toilet to practise a quickstep or two. Only when they are dancing do they come alive.
Although Shall We Dance? is essentially a romantic story about self-realisation, it still brings a wry smile to the face. There are no jokes or gags; the humour comes from watching the characters try to break through the emotional obstacles they have constructed for themselves. Shall We Dance? has a similar comedic feel to the director's previous Sumo Do, Sumo Don't, which saw a group of underdogs overcoming their shortcomings to triumph at a sumo competition.
Suo's film may have been a big hit with Japanese audiences, but the director himself was an even bigger hit with his leading lady Tamiyo Kusakari. Soon after the film wrapped the couple celebrated - by getting married to each other. Richard James Havis
Prod co: Daiei
Prod: Tesuya Ikeda
Dir/Scr: Masayuki Suo
Ph: Naoki Kayano
Ed: Jun'ichi Kikuchi
Cast: Koji Yakusyo, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka
Running time: 136 mins
Int sales: Miramax
