Shall We Dance? Let’s Not
This weekend sees the opening of the new version of Shall We Dance with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. As many people hopefully know this is a remake of a fabulous Japanese original movie.
Despite my dance background, I don’t intend to see the new version as I can’t see how it works. What makes the original so great is the premise of the man going behind his wife’s (and his culture’s) back to take dancing lessons, thereby freeing his soul from the sad life he has fallen into. The remake tries to keep this premise intact but I don’t see how anyone can take such a thing seriously in Western culture. Whilst they might be fine actors I don’t see Gere or J.Lo portraying the dignity that is evident throughout the original.
So far, I’ve read a bunch of reviews that agree with me so I am confident that I am not going to miss anything by not seeing it. Rather I’ll dust off my copy of the original and spend a sure two hours with Koji and Tamiyo. And, no matter whether you see the remake or not, I urge you to do the same.
In other movie news, I see that one of my favourite movies ever in the whole universe is finally out on DVD – Betty Blue. I’ll be buying my copy real soon, and you should rent this too though it’s content is less suitable for children than Shall We Dance.
Hey, why not have yourself a foreign film night?