A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.
- Awards
- 55 wins & 7 nominations
Eri Watanabe
- Toyoko Takahashi
- (as Eriko Watanabe)
Yû Tokui
- Tokichi Hattori
- (as Yu Tokui)
Reiko Kusamura
- Tamako Tamura
- (as Raiko Kusamura)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the first scene, a man's shoe in close-up plunges into a black pool in the street. This symbolizes the world renowned Ballroom Dancing Competition in Blackpool, England, referenced later in the film.
- Quotes
Shohei Sugiyama: At my age, it's embarrassing to say so, but every day I feel so alive.
- Alternate versionsOriginal Japanese version (pre-Miramax) runs 136 minutes and is available on Hong Kong laseridisc with English and Chinese subtitles.
Featured review
Definitely a must see...
Okay. As you can see this is one of my favorite if not favorite films. This is a character drama which is absolutely hilarious. The main character is a business man who is stuck in a "same thing, different day" mentality. He sees a woman looking melancholy out a window of a dance studio from his train everyday and wonders about her and decides to find out more about her. He decides to join the dance class only to find out she is not the instructor. From there he bonds with four other dancers and learns to enjoy dancing as well as finding out about the mysterious woman.
There is no gratuitous (or any) sex involved, just how a small group of people learn how friendships are formed and developed.
This film was remade with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez and the new one while appealing is nowhere as enjoyable as the original. The movie never made it big in America because it was not eligible for the Oscars since it was broadcast on television in Japan (movies cannot be released on TV or they are disqualified for Oscar nominations). It did win numerous awards in Japan for best film, cast, director etc for their "Oscar" awards.
There is no gratuitous (or any) sex involved, just how a small group of people learn how friendships are formed and developed.
This film was remade with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez and the new one while appealing is nowhere as enjoyable as the original. The movie never made it big in America because it was not eligible for the Oscars since it was broadcast on television in Japan (movies cannot be released on TV or they are disqualified for Oscar nominations). It did win numerous awards in Japan for best film, cast, director etc for their "Oscar" awards.
helpful•321
- jon_shimamoto
- Oct 17, 2004
- How long is Shall We Dance??Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $9,499,091
- Gross worldwide
- $9,499,091
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