Shall We Dance?

Shall We Dance? (Shall we ダンス?, 1996) is a Japanese romantic comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Masayuki Suo built the whole film on one thing: the quiet desperation of a man who has everything he was supposed to want.

Forty-two-year-old Sugiyama has a house, a steady job, a devoted family. Nothing is wrong — except everything feels a little flat. One evening on his commute, he notices a woman standing alone in the lit window of a dance studio, and one day he gets off the train at the wrong stop. Koji Yakusho plays the role with barely-visible intensity — the performance lands because he never lets Sugiyama become a joke.

The film took multiple Japan Academy Awards in 1997, including Best Picture, and the Hollywood remake with Richard Gere arrived in 2004. The original is quieter and more honest. Stream Shall We Dance? on iFILM.