Shall We Dance left a strong impression on me a decade ago when I first saw it in a theater. I added the title to my DVD library shortly after its release, and I was very happy to watch it a third time in preparation for writing this review.

Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) looks for his fantasy girl in the
dance studio window every night, during his commute home by train.

I am definitely not an accomplished ballroom dancer, but a business and personal relationship with a dance studio have caused me to dabble a little in ballroom, latin, and swing forms of social dance.

The Japanese ballroom nightclub scenes in Shall We Dance almost make me want to take up dancing again, so I could be tuned and ready to seek out some clubs in Japan like the one featured in this movie.

I don't know if such ballroom nightclubs are really easy to find in Japan, but this film implies that some young adults are also out having fun with ballroom dance. In Japan where ballroom dancing can be viewed as socially inappropriate behavior, you have to imagine that those who are bold enough to break free from societal norms to pursue the pleasures of dancing are also likely to be a little more outgoing and generally fun to hang out with. If there really are dance clubs in Japan like the one shown in the film, I bet they could be fun places to visit.

Midori-haired singer performs in a Shall We Dance ballroom dance club scene.

Quite a few scenes were cut or shortened in the American release of Shall We Dance. I assume this was done to tighten the story up for fidgety Western audiences, or to take out scenes that might be viewed as culturally confusing.

I would one day like to see the uncut film. However, the version released on DVD in the US does not seem to have been hacked up too badly. I believe I detected some small continuity issues, but no really disturbing gaps.

Though some of the comedic characters seem a little overacted at times, there are nice performances in this film and some excellent character roles. The older dance teacher played by Reiko Kusamura was especially memorable to me.

Koji Yakusho, who also starred in Warm Water Under a Red Bridge and who had a significant role in Babel, two other films already reviewed here, seems like the ideal actor to play a Japanese salaryman struggling between his desire to find joy in life and his reluctance to break from what is expected of him in society.

One aspect of this story that was interesting to me was how once the husband was "caught" pursuing his newfound interest in ballroom dancing, there was no need for the film to justify or explain his desire to immediately back away from the activity he enjoyed so much, even when his wife gave her approval and obviously would have joyfully taken part in the activity with him. In Japan this attitude is probably immediately understandable.

From a Westerner's perspective, the inclination might be to simply say, "Cool, let's have our cake and eat it to," since that option certainly exists near the end of the film. I wonder how the writer and director of the American remake handled those aspects of the story in their version of this film. Much of this story's premise is built upon very specific Japanese cultural issues.

Shall We Dance is a romantic comedy and there is a friendly romance between Sugiyama and the professional dancer Mai, and there is a small but significant element in the film indicating a return to romance between the husband and wife. But the real romance exposed in this film is the friendship and camaraderie that is shared by the dance participants at the small dance studio, as well as the romance they all find with their personal enjoyment of dance.

If you are a Japan culture enthusiast, Japanese movie fan, or someone who simply likes warm satisfying stories, and you have not seen the original Japanese Shall We Dance yet, you really should place it at or near the top of your list of movies to view. This is a great little movie and like the Japanese film The Bird People in China, Shall We Dance will likely resonate well with anyone you share it with, even if they are not normally interested in Japan, and even if they usually do not enjoy subtitled movies.

Savage Japan Misc. Tidbits
It is a little sad in this movie to observe the stifled social life of some adults in Japan, along with the excessive restraint on public affection that exists there. And wow, do modern Japanese couples still really sleep in two separate beds?

Also during this film, see if about halfway through you feel like whacking the lead character Sugiyama over the head to get him to wake up and notice his sweet and sexy wife. Hideko Hara's character is far more attractive and appealing than the snobbish professional dance teacher character. Once Sugiyama discovers that he really likes dancing and abandons his inappropriate lust for the dance teacher, you may find yourself rooting for him to introduce his new interest in dance to his wife. Though that would have resulted in a one hour instead of two hour movie, and not provided the satisfying build up and necessary conclusion to the established plot elements.

In the middle of writing this review, I had a discussion with a married Japanese friend, and he explained to me that Sugiyama's desire to keep his dancing private may not only have been to avoid the shame of being discovered. At that point in his life, it might be common for a Japanese man who had dedicated his life to career and family, forsaking many personal and indulgent pursuits, to be eager to find something that he could call his own. Dancing may have become something personal for him that he strongly wanted to keep for himself.

I still think Sugiyama could have had a lot of fun taking his wife with him to dance classes.

Fortunately, the frustration endured by the audience while observing the husband's determination to keep his activities private, is partially rewarded with scenes involving the wife towards the end of the film.

For Japanese Language Students
This film is excellent for language listening practice. It is also a fun film for observing typical life patterns of modern Japanese.

This most recent viewing of Shall We Dance is the first time I have watched the movie since I learned hiragana and katakana, the basic Japanese phonetic syllabaries. It was fun to find several scenes in the film with Japanese text on signs that I could actually read a little.

There are many opportunities to pick up basic words and simple phrases in the dialogue of this movie. I look forward to watching Shall We Dance again down the road as my language skills improve to see how much more of the dialogue I can grasp. Actually, I might watch it again at the end of November (2007), just before flying to New York for my attempt at the basic level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

Final Note
There are only a few films that I am willing to watch more than twice in my life, and for this movie I am already considering a fourth viewing. That speaks louder than anything else I could say in regards to my recommendation for Shall We Dance. Though I was considering giving this film 4 SIberians, it is such a damn fun movie I had to bump its rating up to 4.5.

Dan Savage
Dan@SavageSnow.com