A middle-aged accountant in an established, successful Japanese firm has a house, a wife, and a beautiful daughter. He works hard all day, comes home, goes to sleep, and then does the whole thing over again. He's a man who's lost his soul. He's an automaton, a cog in the larger Japanese industrial society. As old Karl Marx would have put it, he's alienated from the larger society of his fellow workers, his family, and from himself. What a predicament.
On the way home from work, he spots a beautiful but melancholy woman looking out the window of a dance studio. Every night, she's there, calling to him like a siren or one of the fabled wood nymphs. There's a sexual attraction that fuels his interest. But there's also much more: he immediately identifies with her, feels an instant sense of connection, because she is outwardly expressing his inner angst. So he takes the leap, overcomes his fear, and signs up for dance lessons.
In the West, this commonplace occurrence would go unnoticed: we would say that Mr. Sugiyama is having a `mid-life crisis.' We would expect him to have an affair with his secretary, or suddenly buy leathers and a Harley and hit the road. But in Japan, where Ballroom dancing is viewed as lascivious, perhaps even perverted behavior, this makes for a much more interesting dilemma. The main character, Mr. Sugiyama, a respectable accountant, is drawn into dance by the alluring siren. He acts on his impulse to get to know her. But then, when reality sets in that he will never win her affection, he falls in love with dance. It becomes his personal means both of self-discovery, and self-expression. It's a fascinating transformation.
One of the reasons that this movie works so well is its rich and varied set of characters, all of which are simply adorable. This is an incredibly impressive Japanese film. It's a must-see video.
