Shall we dansu? (1996)

Director:

Masayuki Suo

Writer:

Masayuki Suo (writer)

Release Date:

11 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

He's an overworked accountant. She's an accomplished dancer. Passion is about to find two unlikely partners.

Plot:

A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.

Plot Keywords:

Commuting | Bicycle | Computer | Ballroom Dancing | Private Detective

Awards:

51 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kôji Yakusho	...	Shohei Sugiyama
Tamiyo Kusakari	...	Mai Kishikawa
Naoto Takenaka	...	Tomio Aoki
Eriko Watanabe	...	Toyoko Takahashi
Yu Tokui	...	Tokichi Hattori
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Masahiro Tanaka
Reiko Kusamura	...	Tamako Tamura
Hideko Hara	...	Masako Sugiyama
Hiroshi Miyasaka	...	Macho
Kunihiko Ida	...	Teiji Kaneko
Amie Toujou	...	Hisako Honda
Ayano Nakamura	...	Chikage Sugiyama
Katsunari Mineno	...	Keiri-kachô
Tomiko Ishii	...	Haruko Haraguchi
Maki Kawamura	...	Eiko Miyoshi
Takako Matsuzaka	...	Fusako Fukube
Kôichi Ueda	...	Torakichi Kumada
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akira Emoto	...	Tôru Miwa
Nanea Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Robert Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Hirotaro Honda	...	Sayônara-Pâtî no Emu-Shî
Yudai Ishiyama	...	Giruba no Hama (Hama the Jitterbug)
Maiko Itô
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Keiko Kishikawa
Goro Kataoka	...	Burusu no Jô
Angelique Midthunder	...	Dansâ (as Angelique Roehm)
Shûichirô Moriyama	...	Ryo Kishikawa
Masahiro Motoki	...	Hiromasa Kimoto
Ren Osugi	...	Sugiuwa, the Floor Manager
Angélique Roehm	...	Dansâ
Misa Shimizu	...	Natsuko
Hideo Tanaka	...	Tokihiko Okada
Yôko Tanaka	...	Yôko Kishikawa
Paradise Yamamoto	...	Band Leader

Directed by
Masayuki Suo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Masayuki Suo		writer

Produced by
Yoichi Arishige	....	associate producer
Kazuhiro Igarashi	....	producer
Tetsuya Ikeda	....	chief producer
Hiroyuki Kato	....	producer
Shôji Masui	....	producer
Shigeo Minakami	....	assistant producer
Yuji Ogata	....	producer
Shigeru Ohno	....	producer
Yasuyoshi Tokuma	....	executive producer
Yasuharu Urushido	....	producer

Original Music by
Yoshikazu Suo

Cinematography by
Naoki Kayano

Film Editing by
Junichi Kikuchi

Casting by
Tetsu Maeda

Production Design by
Kyôko Heya

Set Decoration by
Yoshihito Akatsuka

Production Management
Yoshino Sasaki	....	production manager
Masamitsu Washizu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gen Yamakawa	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound editor
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Tatsuya Osada	....	lighting director

Editorial Department
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	conforming editor

Music Department
The Drifters	....	music performers: "Save the Last Dance for Me"
Doc Pomus	....	composer: song "Save the Last Dance for Me"
Richard Rodgers	....	composer: song "Shall We Dance" from musical "King and I"
Mort Shuman	....	composer: song "Save the Last Dance for Me"

Other crew
Howard Smith	....	operator: remote head
Toshihisa Watai	....	production coordinator
Toshio Watari	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Altamira Pictures Inc.
• Daiei Studios (as Daiei Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) (as Nippon Telebi-housou Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Hakuhodo (as Kabushiki-Gaisha Hakuhodo)
• Nihon Shuppan Hanbai (as Nihon Shuppan Hanbai Kabushiki-Gaisha)

Distributors

• Toho Company (1996) (Japan) (theatrical) (as Toho)
• Kadokawa Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Abril Vídeo (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Buena Vista International Finland (1998) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International Spain (1998) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (1999) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• EDKO Film (199?) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (1998) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Gativideo (199?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Miramax Films (1997) (USA) (theatrical) (cut version)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (cut version)
• New Films International (1997) (USA) (all media) (cut version)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1998) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1999) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Home Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Shall We Dance? (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language.

Runtime:

136 min | Argentina:118 min (cut version) | Germany:118 min (cut version) | Netherlands:118 min (cut version) | USA:118 min (cut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Japan:U | Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. (bw) | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Company:

Altamira Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

The title is written in English as "Shall We Dansu" since in its original Japanese release, the first two words actual appear in English with only the last word appearing in katakana (one of three Japanese writing systems). The Japanese word for "dance" is pronounced "dansu".

Quotes:

Mai Kishikawa: A weak first step transmits nothing.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Shall We Dance (2004)

Soundtrack:

Save the Last Dance for Me

Magical and Meaningful

This movie is among my favorite foreign films, some of the others are Amilee and My Life As a Dog. The similarities with those movies as with so many great foreign films, is that it takes a mundane slice of life and transforms it into a profound heartfelt lesson.

In Japan, a man who is bored with his mundane life and the rut of his married life, sees a beautiful Japanese woman staring out the window of a dance studio. In the instant that it takes his train to pass, he is enthralled by her. But is it only by her beauty, by her faraway glance, or a connection that they will both discover that they share?

Shall We Dance has memorable wonderful characters who have to deal with painful realities by transcending them through the world of dance. Breaking traditional moulds and stereo types of Japanese society, they risk all for happiness and find that joy is not too far away. It is one of those movies that is so magical and meaningful and, in itself, transcends the mundane by showing the true magic and miracle that life can be.