Taking Chance Pays Off In ‘Dance’
It’s late and the train is crowded. A man, tired from his day’s work - and perhaps tired of his life - looks up… …and suddenly he sees her.
She is a dream, a vision, a drink of water to this man who is so thirsty for something that will give his existence the meaning it seems to lack. And so he goes to her.
And so he is thrust into the sordid world of - ballroom dancing?
Yes, ballroom dancing. Aptly described as a Japanese version of the Australian hit “Strictly Ballroom,” this romantic comedy/ drama, titled “Shall We Dance?,” is first-time writer/director Masayuki Suo’s attempt to show how ballroom dancing fits in - or, rather, doesn’t fit in - with the cultural psyche of Japan.
To Suo, his native country is haunted by a kind of constipated attitude toward intimacy that consigns individuals to the status of worker drones, mindlessly striving to get ahead, never asking why, simply accepting the questions that grow louder with each passing year - why? what is the point? is this all there is?
Suo’s effort was enough to win his film a number of cinematic awards, including the top Japanese academy awards (best picture, best director, actor and actress, etc.) and a jury prize for the New Directors Showcase at this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.
“Shall We Dance?” centers on one man, the train rider (skillfully played by Koji Yakusho) struck with an image of beauty. An accountant for a big firm, he is no ordinary drone. Instead of partying with his colleagues, he typically goes home every night to his nice home, attentive wife and loving daughter.
Yet the questions hound him. Worried about his “depression,” his family hopes that he will find a way out of it. To their chagrin (his wife’s, at least), he does so by stepping off the train.
The woman whom he has noticed (Tamiyo Kusakari) works as a dance instructor for a night school for would-be ballroom dancers. After several false starts, the accountant decides to take lessons.
And that is where “Shall We Dance?” becomes much more than simply a study of an average man’s midlife affair. For while he does have a kind of affair, it isn’t sexual. The woman rejects him quickly enough, but - out of hurt pride, embarrassment or maybe just stubbornness - he remains and eventually becomes committed to the lessons.
Which gives Suo the chance to portray several stories at once - the accountant’s, his family’s, that of a colleague, the dance instructor and her colleagues. And over everything looms the theme of an individual’s struggle against the oppressive quality of culturally imposed conformism.
As the man gains skill, he gains confidence both in his ability to dance and in his willingness to brave the strict mores that deem something such as ballroom dancing as ridiculous. And even perverted.
Ultimately, there is the big dance, and ultimately… but that would be giving away too much. It’s enough to say that everyone comes away a bit wiser for having taken a chance at something considered the province of fools.
The lesson has to do with resolving the lure of a dream and coming to an acceptance of real life.
It’s all about taking that first step - even if only to music.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Shall We Dance?” ***-1/2 Locations: Lincoln Heights Cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Masayuki Suo, starring Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eriko Watanabe, Akira Emoto, Yu Tokui, Hiromasa Taguchi. Subtitles: In Japanese with English subtitles. Running time: 1:58 Rating: PG