Shall We Dance (1996)
director: masayuki suo
cast: koji yakusho, tamiyo kusakari, naoto takenaka, eriko watanabe, yu tokui hiromasa taguchi, reiko kusamura, hideko hara, shuichiro moriyama, masahiro motoki, misa shimizu, akira emoto
The
only unfortunate news about this month’s abundance of “grade A” movies is that
they don’t lend themselves to the half-wit rantings that has become the staple
of “Movie Mutt” but I’ll try my best (at this rate I’ll have to close her down
because of too many good vibes -- except for that scary “The
Peacemaker” review, of course).
From the land that brought you the original “Godzilla,” “Hidden Fortress,” “Yojimbo,” “Tampopo,” Mitsubishi Corporation and World War II (the most stupid thing I could think of saying) comes a subtle, and at times, melancholy comedy that will make you forget all about your phone bill and credit card payments. “Shall We Dance” is that rare type of movie that’s deserving of the “gem” label so overused in schlock Leonard Maltin-esque movie promotion. “Shall We Dance” is a balm to the soul, an infectious groove, double cheery pie and disco super-fly. Good, rich, sweet-stuff like this is rare.
Mr. Sugiyama (played by a dignified Koji Yakusho) is a family man stoicly suffering through a mid-life crisis. He’s got a wife and a ten year-old daughter. He’s got a job as an accountant and a new house with a mortgage. Hmm… not too surprisingly, he feels that something is missing. His one joy is to get a glimpse of an equally melancholy woman called “Mai” (an elegant Tamiyo Kusakari) that works at a dance school that he sometimes sees during his daily train ride home from work. His little act of madness is to join the dance school in the hopes of getting closer to this sweety-pie.
Here
is where things get good. In a typical Hollywood film, the dancer is sad because
she (a) has a psycho, drug-dealing boyfriend that she can’t escape from... (b)
is really a man trap-psycho herself that won’t let go once she’s got her hooks
in a man... (c) is really a he who can’t get enough money for the final weenie
removing surgery (a Dog Day Dance-ternoon). None of that Hollywood-shit transpires
in “Shall We Dance”. This is a movie about how Mr. Sugiyama discovers a love
of dance that transforms his view of his job, his family and even the woman
whose sadness prompted him to deviate from his stifling routine in the first
place. The closest movie I can think of to compare “Shall We Dance” to is Bill
Forsyth’s “Local Hero.” Both movies are rich in layers of meaning and are wonderfully
subtle both in their comedy and drama. Both movies are filled with interesting
characters that draw you in and reward you with little glimpses of their humanity.
Sugiyama’s boss, Mr. Aoki (played brilliantly by Naoto Takenaka), almost steals the movie with his performance as a middle management bureaucrat who transforms himself into a hot blooded Latin lover on the dance floor — a strange and wonderfully over-the-top performance. Great stuff like this will win over all but the most hardened of sociopaths. Keep your eyes peeled for director Masayuki Suo's next movie. — Tom Graney
$9.50
© 1997 Hollywood Outsider™