American films now rule at the box office in Japan, leaving local product standing. 1995 saw US films, led by Die Hard With A Vengeance (US$48 million), taking the first six positions at the yearly box office. If a Japanese film does well at the box office, it's usually an animation, a live-action monster-movie or a Tora-San [the long-running series of films produced by Shochiku]. However, Masayuki Suo's comedy drama Shall We Dance? bucked the trend in 1996.
It tells of a middle-aged businessman a 'sasari' or salary man coming to terms with his life through ballroom dancing. The US$5 million film, produced by Daiei Co, took US$30 million at the Japanese box office (1995's top Japanese film only grossed US$18.5 million). Suo puts some of the film's success down to the fact that it appealed to an older demographic group.
'I wanted to interest middle-aged Japanese businessman with Shall We Dance?' says Suo. 'For the past few years, the Japanese film industry's strategy has been to appeal to a young female audience. They think that if they stray from this, the film will not make money. I wanted to make a film that would appeal to middle-aged audiences. Many people who saw Shall We Dance? had not gone to the cinema for 20 years they didn't know where the theatre was, and had to ask for directions at the station. The reason they don't go is that no films appeal to them.'
Suo thinks that Shall We Dance? filled the gap for quality Japanese-language entertainment. 'If we make entertaining films, the audience will consider going to see them,' he says. 'It's not likely that we'll swing the cinemagoers back from US films. But at least we will have a choice they can consider.'
International sales of Shall We Dance? have been good. Daiei's chief of international sales and purchasing, Ms Haruyo Moriyoshi, has sold the film to Miramax in the US along with six other territories, with more in negotiation. Suo's earlier US$2 million Sumo Do, Sumo Don't sold to six territories, including Australia. 'It's very difficult to sell Japanese films now,' says Moriyoshi. 'The past 10 years have not seen any famous Japanese films getting attention at international film festivals. All the buyers are still talking about Mizoguchi, Ozu, Itami, maybe Oshima ... that's about it. So we're very lucky to have a film as good as Shall We Dance?'
