A nice glimpse into Japanese culture and how they can be more reserved than us (at least in terms of physical contact) and cross-gender contact.
I thought the actors, including the supporting cast were fantastic. I was a little worried about the focus of the movie as it started out w/ his boredom & attraction to Mai. Obviously the main character was the focus but I even felt for his wife and really enjoyed the scenes with the older dancing teacher and the private eye. As others have mentioned, Aoki steals the show whenever he's on camera. In general I enjoyed the film for the character growth - not for any particular scene. I was happy to see that this wasn't a "romance" movie, but something much better than a trite rehash of overdone plots.
P.S. I'd like to respond to an earlier post. Shall We Dance (1937) w/ Rogers & Astaire is a completely different movie. It's a musical with a completely different plot. Just 'cuz the name's the same - doesn't mean it's the same movie!
I thought the actors, including the supporting cast were fantastic. I was a little worried about the focus of the movie as it started out w/ his boredom & attraction to Mai. Obviously the main character was the focus but I even felt for his wife and really enjoyed the scenes with the older dancing teacher and the private eye. As others have mentioned, Aoki steals the show whenever he's on camera. In general I enjoyed the film for the character growth - not for any particular scene. I was happy to see that this wasn't a "romance" movie, but something much better than a trite rehash of overdone plots.
P.S. I'd like to respond to an earlier post. Shall We Dance (1937) w/ Rogers & Astaire is a completely different movie. It's a musical with a completely different plot. Just 'cuz the name's the same - doesn't mean it's the same movie!