home how it works subscription plans browse movies sign me up! log in
Gift


DETAILS

MPAA Rating - PG

Length:
    119 Minutes

Genre:
    Comedy Drama

Original Release Date:
    Feb 1, 2005

Director
    Masayuki Suo

Cast
    Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Hideko Hara, Eriko Watanabe, Akira Emoto

 
Movie Summary
Reminiscent of the Australian hit Strictly Ballroom (1992), this omantic comedy from Japan was a hit in its country of origin, despite (or perhaps because of) its tacit criticisms of the restrictive aspects of Japanese culture. Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) is a typically strait-laced Japanese businessmen who, passing by in his commuter train one day, glimpses a beautiful young woman, Mai (real-life ballerina Tamiyo Kusakari) through the window of a dance school. Obsessed with her, Shohei enrolls in the school and meets instructor Mai, who at first mistakes Shohei for a philanderer. To her surprise, however, Shohei is a naturally gifted dancer interested in an artistic partnership only, and Mai begins training with him for a competition. Meanwhile, Shohei becomes familiar with his eccentric fellow students, including one person that Shohei already knows, a co-worker (Akira Emoto) who blooms in the dance sessions as a bewigged master of umba. As dancing is frowned upon in Japan as a frivolous enterprise for a respectable businessman, Shohei keeps his sideline hobby secret, leading his wife to believe that hes being unfaithful and to hire a private investigator to follow him. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide


USER REVIEWS

No reviews posted


Want to write a review?

Love Hina, Vol. 3: Secret Lives

One Night at McCool's

Medea

On the Waterfront

Queer as Folk: The Complete Third Season [6 Discs]

Charlotte Church: Voice of an Angel