(The title of the original version is "Shall we ダンス". If you wonder why only the word "dance" that being written in katakana, you better see the Japanese version too...)
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Last Friday, Miya had two free movie tickets for “Shall We Dance?” (starred by Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez), and she asked me whether I wanted to see it too. I always love to see movie (moreover, when it is free :-) ), so in the next few minutes we had already rushed to Kawasaki to catch the next show.
I won’t talk in details about the movie itself - since some of my friends had already mad at me for telling them some bloopers before. Anyway, to my surprise, the movie was great – it was much better than what I thought before. Well, I wasn’t expecting much from the movie, since I think it just like another romantic drama which only tell you that you may do anything you like in the name of love (you know which movie that I mean :-) ). This movie is different. It simply develops to the direction that I like, and left us (us to give emphasis - not only me!) with a warm splendid ending where (almost) everyone in the movie life happily ever after. And the most important thing, I think you can learn a lot from this movie (I won’t tell about it here, though).
After the show Miya told me that she had been looking forward for this movie since the first time she heard about it. The reason for this was not because it's starred by Richard Gere (well, she did mentioned that Richard Gere was so cool in the movie several times, tough :-) ). She wanted to see it because the movie was originated from Japan. Actually it was started from one japanese best-selling novel (with the same title) which then being brought into wide-screen about 10 years ago. She told me that the Japanese version was also as amusing as the Hollywood one, and she advise me to watch it too if I have time (Anyway, she didn’t told me to read the novel too, because I think she know that even in the most optimistic estimation, my ability to read novel in Japanese still equivalent to a 6 grade elementary school boy - thanks to all those kanji).
Following her advice, I hunted for the movie at Tsutaya (the name of video rental house in Japan) and lucky enough to get my hand on one copy. The movie was indeed entertaining. It flows naturally, and when the Hollywood one give a western impression, this Japanese version really give an eastern impression (what I mean here is that you will think the movie can actually take place in Japan without any scene felt out of place). Since the flows of both movies are more or less the same, it is interesting to see that two different cultures can picture a similar tale - with each culture colored the story by its own characteristic - and still, yield a similar impact to their audiences. Some people might like one of the movie over the other - that's just natural. However, it's not to say that one of the cultures is better than the other. It's just that each culture has its own characteristic that can make things in life look more lively, and each single person views it differently.
Anyway, I’m here not to give you lecture on cultural difference. I just wanna tell you that if you plan to see the movie and have the chance, it is better for you to see both versions. Each has its own flair, and I believe you won’t regret to see both, regardless the fact that those movie have the same story to tell. Trust me, it's worth the dime.
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