| Conservative, middle-aged businessman Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusyo) has all things in life that his culture promises would make him happy: a successful career, a well-appointed home, and a loving wife and daughter. Despite all this, something is still missing. Taking note of his disheartened state, Sugiyama's wife suggests he get out more and enjoy himself. |
| One evening during his train ride home, Sugiyama spots the beautiful and mysterious Mai (real-life ballerina Tamiyo Kusakari) glancing out her dance studio window. Days pass, as Sugiyama keeps his eye peeled for the figure of the mystery woman. Eventually, Sugiyama's curiosity gets the better of him. He courageously leaves the train at the station closest to the dance studio, enters it, and enrolls for dance lessons. |
| Before he knows it, Sugiyama is smitten with dance. The lessons bring him back to life-so much so that he secretly practices his dance steps while sitting at the desk of his sterile and restrictive office. Sugiyama's fellow dance pupils provide both comic relief and moments of poignancy. They include a |
|
|
| goofy, heavy-set man, a funny short gent, and one of Sugiyama's fellow office workers; quiet, reserved and bald by day, he is transformed by dance into the glitzy, well-coiffed Latin lover by night. |
| While weaving his charming, feel-good tale, Mr. Suo provides Westerners with a rare look into the world of Japanese culture, particularly in what Sugiyama risks to satisfy his mid-life crisis. In Japan, displays of public affection even between a married couple is considered indecent-the idea of unmarried dance partners in close embrace is nothing short of scandalous. Engaging in this unpopular activity could cause Sugiyama to be labeled a degenerate. Yet he and his fellow students are willing to risk the shame for just that smidgen of freedom and creativity that ballroom dancing provides them in their restrictive, conformist culture. (Since this film set box office records in Japan, it can be argued that there are quite a few Japanese who share Sugiyama's plight and long for such relief in their own lives.) |
|
|
