Shall we dance? (1996)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Shall we dance? |
| Original title | Shall we ダ ン ス ? |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1996 |
| length | 118 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Masayuki Suo |
| script | Masayuki Suo |
| production | Tetsuya Ikeda (Chief Producer), Shoji Masui , Kazuhiro Igarashi |
| music | Yoshikazu Suo |
| camera | Naoki Kayano |
| cut | Junichi Kikuchi |
| occupation | |
| |
Shall we dance? ( jap. Shall we ダ ン ス ?, Shall we dansu? ) is a Japanese comedy film from 1996 , which deals with the love and passion for dance .
The film is named after a song from the film The King and I starring Yul Brynner .
In 2004 an American remake came into the cinemas with the German title May I ask? .
action
At the beginning of the film, while dancing couples spin around in a ballroom, a narrator explains that Japanese people find European ballroom unseemly because they usually never touch in public. The Japanese also do not necessarily declare their love for their partner explicitly.
The serious and sad accountant Shohei Sugiyama of a large company, after almost collapsing from work in the evening suburban train, sees a woman standing by the window in a high-rise building. He finds out that she, Mai Kishikawa, is giving expensive private lessons in western ballroom dancing in a (taboo) dance school and begins to learn to dance there in a basic course with two other bizarre beginners, Tokichi Hattori and Masahiro Tanaka. After initial difficulties, he is such a docile student that after a while he is allowed to take part in a dance tournament and, after overcoming difficulties, wins the sympathy of his loved ones.
He kept these weekly dance classes a secret from his wife Masako Sugiyama and daughter Chikage. His wife put a private investigator on him because she was worried that her husband would come home later on Wednesdays and be happier. The detective informs her that her husband is taking part in an amateur dance tournament, which Masako and Chikage are attending as spectators. Shohei is shortlisted with his partner Toyoko. The daughter wants to cheer on her father with loud shouts, but this irritates him. In the Quickstep finals, he stumbles through a bump from another couple, keeps his partner Toyoko from falling, but tears her dress so that she is standing in the middle of the dance floor without a skirt. Mother and daughter leave the hall.
The personal competitor Tomios, Macho, is eliminated because of unsportsmanlike conduct.
The professional dancer Mai reached the semi-finals some time ago in Blackpool , the city of the dance world championship, and broke up with her dance partner. Now she is getting by with dance lessons. She often stands at the window and looks out over the city at night. She doesn't want any contact with her students outside of the dance school and takes dancing very seriously. It's not a party for them. As a child, she was very impressed by how a dancer tried to protect his partner when he fell. After she realizes that Shohei is no longer just about her, but about dancing, he wins her sympathy. For him it wasn't an affair, it was love. After the fiasco at the tournament, he wants to give up dancing.
Mai writes him a letter explaining that she left her dance partner because she assumed he would not have protected her if she fell in the semifinals. When she met Shohei, she realized that she always danced alone and never really trusted her partner. She would like to start the dance all over again. She invites Shohei to her farewell party, who just appears for her last dance and dances with her.
Reviews
Roger Ebert called the film totally entertaining and a well-done character study in the Chicago Sun-Times of July 18, 1997.
Janet Maslin praised the film as generally heartwarming in The New York Times on April 5, 1997.
Kevin Thomas described the film in the Los Angeles Times on July 11, 1997 as looking great and sounding great, to which the music by Yoshikazu Suo in particular contributed.
“The film allows largely sovereign ironic insights into Japanese ideas of morality and custom. Cheerful situations are filtered out of the hero's social and personal deadlocks, which, despite lengths and cabaret exaggerations, condense into an entertaining, but at the same time thoroughly thoughtful musical comedy. "
Awards
The film received a total of 51 international awards and one nomination. It was honored for the Japanese Academy Awards for best film for best director: Masayuki Suo, as well as best leading actor: Kōji Yakusho and best leading actress: Tamiyo Kusakari. The best supporting actress was: Naoto Takenaka, the best supporting actress: Eriko Watanabe and Reiko Kusamura.
Version differences
The German TV version is 110 min. long, the cinema version 118 min., the original version lasts 136 min.
In the Japanese version, the speaker initially explains the history of European standard dance. In non-Japanese versions, the taboo Japanese relationship to western standard dance is explained.
Web links
- Shall we dance? in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Shall we dance? atRotten Tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shall-we-dance-1997
- ↑ http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9C03E1DB103DF936A35757C0A961958260
- ↑ http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie970711-5,0,5481854.story
- ↑ Shall we dance? In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 11, 2018 .