Picture This! Reviews Shall We Dance

Shall We Dance? Or Shall We Dance

Reprinted from NotesFromHollywood.com

Shall We Dance? Or Shall We Dance

The Hollywood tradition of remakes is nothing new. The concept has been around since the beginning of film, a story told once should surely be told again but, say, with a twist i.e. A Star is Born. Remakes get a bit trickier when you cross cultural boundaries, but that’s not to say it can’t or shouldn’t be done.

Welcome to Shall We Dance, the Miramax release starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, and Susan Sarandon. The difference in their film and the 1997 Japanese Shall We Dance? is obvious. The Japanese title has a question mark at the end, silly! When Americans tweak remakes they can be so clever.

Ok, the question mark is not the only difference and in fairness to the remake, the director, Peter Chelsom, hales from England so there is an added continental flair to the story. Well, not really.

“Enough of the silliness,” you say. “Should I rent the Japanese version and struggle through subtitles on my home screen or pop in the American do-over and watch actors whose names I can pronounce go through their paces?”

The best advice I can offer is not to compare the two movies which is, of course, what I’m doing in this column.

Shall We Dance? is the story of a Japanese accountant [Shohei Sugiyama] who seemingly has all the comforts a man could ask for, a loving wife, his own home, a good job. But something’s missing from his life until he becomes entranced by a beauty in the window of a ballroom dance studio. Struggling and stumbling his way across the dance floor, he succeeds in finding joy not only in the ballroom, but in life.

Shall We Dance is the story of an American attorney [Richard Gere] who seemingly has all the comforts a man could ask for, a loving wife, his own home, a good job. But something’s missing from his life until he becomes entranced by a beauty in the window of a ballroom dance studio. Struggling and stumbling his way across the dance floor, he succeeds in finding joy not only in the ballroom, but in life.

Richard Gere is suitably attractive as his mid-life crisis renders him temporarily inept. Susan Sarandon, as the suspicious wife still in love with her husband, comes off as sufficiently removed from his life to be believable. Only Jennifer Lopez as the dance instructor Paulina suffers from the film’s director trying to mirror the Japanese version. She looks and moves great but is given the range of two emotions – aloof and distraught.

But the Japanese Shall We Dance? has that intangible that filmmakers strive for and moviegoers see too seldom – magic. Everything about this original works, the culture, the setting, the motivations, the resolutions.

Either movie will satisfy an appetite. However, the American version fills you up like the blue plate special at the corner diner and the Japanese film tantalizes the palate like a five course meal. The choice is yours. Bon appetite!
Rebecca Redshaw is the Arts& Entertainment Critic for www.NotesFromHollywood.com. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.