Who else saw the 1996 Japanese film "Shall We Dansu?"

[Ilsa]

We saw it on video in 1997. Loved it. Looks like Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon have remade the movie. I bet it will do reasonably well.

[Chovexani]

1. I loved it, and the remake's going to suck ass.

Seriously. From what I've heard on the movie boards I hang out at the movie's already been retooled several times after performing terribly in test screenings.

I'll be shocked if this thing makes any money.

[Ilsa]

3. Awww that's too bad.

I hadn't heard about the test screenings. Some things just don't translate well.

Thanks for setting me straight. I'm usually optimistic, but I own't be now.

[Chovexani]

7. It's a shame

I came across the original one night during one of my frequent channel-surfing bouts of insomnia, and really loved it.

It irks me that Americans feel this need to mess up good foreign entertainment (Japanese movies, British sitcoms, etc).

[miss_kitty]

9. "retooled"-HA! you know what that is doncha?

when one tool messes with the work of another tool....:evilgrin:

[Chovexani]

11. LOL!

Good one, I like! :D

[elperromagico]

10. Is that why they're pairing it with "Hero" in the TV promotions?

I don't think I've ever seen a film piggyback onto another film in commercials like that - makes me wonder how much faith the studio has in the film.

[Chovexani]

12. Probably

The thing is it had the opposite effect on me. It just made me want to see Hero again. :) (I saw a special free advance screening in August at an anime convention in Baltimore)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I saw the original and loved it

I also recommended it to several other people, most of whom had no connection with Japan, and they loved it, too.

I can't imagine Richard Gere playing the main character as well as Koji Yakusho did, nor can I imagine the basic plot working as well in an American setting as it does in a Japanese setting, where company employees are supposed to be so conformist and where hsubands and wives lead largely separate social lives.

On edit: I just looked up the cast on the Internet Movie Database. The dance instructor (played by the Audrey Hepburn-like Tamiyo Kusakari in the original) is played by Jennifer Lopez? The whole point of the dance instructor character is that she's supposed to be a delicate, sensitive, almost unreal fantasy figure, which I can't imagine Jennifer Lopez as.

[captainjack]

4. what's with these japanese movies with -u at the end? ringu, dansu, etc?

is english there different from standard english?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. In Japanese, you can't pronounce a consonant at the end of a syllable

unless it's "n."

That's why English words borrowed into Japanese have an "u" or "o" inserted after all the consonants.

If I were to transcribe my screen name into Japanese it would be

Rijia Refutokoosuto.

[Chovexani]

6. The funny thing about J-Lo

Originally the studio wanted to push this as a J-Lo vehicle, but since those test screenings I mentioned earlier they are focusing more on Gere and Sarandon. Interesting.

I completely agree with you about this movie just not working as an American thing. Why can't we leave great Japanese movies alone instead of remaking them crappily? (See also: Ringu)

[bookworm65t]

8. We loved it!

My mom loved this movie, and she wasn't happy that it was being remade. She believes that this new version is going to have J-Lo and Gere in bed together, which didn't happen in hte 1996 version. She says that American movies focus too much on sex ,and that putting sex in a film wrecks it.