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31-426: Daiei Film was the product of government efforts to reorganize the film industry during World War II in order to rationalize use of resources and increase control over the medium. Against a government plan to combine all the film studios into two companies, Masaichi Nagata , an executive at Shinkō Kinema , pressed hard for an alternative plan to create three studios. His efforts won out and Shinkō Kinema, Daito Eiga, and

62-511: A brief period when he was purged by Occupation authorities, remained in that position until 1971. Under his reign, Daiei produced Akira Kurosawa 's Rashomon (1950) and entered it in the Venice Film Festival , where it won the grand prize and became the first Japanese film to win an international award, thus introducing Japanese cinema to the world. Nagata also spurred the production of Teinosuke Kinugasa 's Gate of Hell (1953),

93-427: A brief period when he was purged by Occupation authorities, remained in that position until 1971. Under his reign, Daiei produced Akira Kurosawa 's Rashomon (1950) and entered it in the Venice Film Festival , where it won the grand prize and became the first Japanese film to win an international award, thus introducing Japanese cinema to the world. Daiei also produced Teinosuke Kinugasa 's Gate of Hell (1953),

124-530: A firm in Tokyo . Despite these external signs of success, however, Sugiyama begins to feel as if his life has lost direction and meaning and falls into depression . One night, while coming home on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line , he spots an slender woman with a melancholic expression looking out from the window of a dance studio. He doesn't know it, but she is Mai Kishikawa ( Tamiyo Kusakari ), a well-known figure on

155-551: A location manager, rose to become head of production at the Kyoto studio. Experiencing conflicts with the Nikkatsu president, he left the company in 1934, taking many Nikkatsu stars with him, to form Daiichi Eiga . While short-lived, that studio created such masterpieces as Kenji Mizoguchi 's Sisters of the Gion (1936) and Osaka Elegy (1936). When Daiichi Eiga folded, Nagata became head of

186-522: A total Japanese box office revenue of ¥2.72 billion ( $ 25 million ). The film performed strongly in American theaters, earning $ 9.7 million during its US release. Outside of the United States, the film grossed $ 33,287,618 internationally in other territories (including Japan), for a worldwide total of $ 43 million . Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics have given

217-425: A while—a well-crafted character study that, like a Hollywood movie with a skillful script, manipulates us but makes us like it." Critic Paul Tatara noted that "It isn't really fair to suggest that the movie's main subject is dance, though. As much as anything else, it's about the healing powers (and poetry) of simple self-expression ." Despite claiming unprecedented success in box office and critical acclaim,

248-475: Is a 1996 Japanese romantic comedy-drama film directed by Masayuki Suo . Its title refers to the song " Shall We Dance? " which comes from Rodgers and Hammerstein 's The King and I . It inspired the 2004 English-language remake of the same name . The film begins with a close-up of the inscription above the stage in the ballroom of the Blackpool Tower : "Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear", from

279-499: Is through with dance, even when she asks him to teach her. But he gives in and they reconcile when his daughter Chikage pushes them together and he teaches her some steps. On the way home the next day, he looks out of the train window and sees a sign in the dance studio window “Shall we dance, Mr. Sugiyama”. He changes his mind and heads to the party, arriving in time for the last dance, where Mai will choose her partner. Mai approaches him and asks him “Shall we dance?". Shall We Dance?

310-471: Is visited by Toyoko and Aoki, who try to get him to return and tell him to come to a farewell party for Mai, who is leaving for Blackpool . They hand him a letter from Mai in which she explains her own past failure at Blackpool, attributing it to her dancing alone and not truly trusting her partner and how working with Sugiyama and Toyoko reinspired her to try again. Sugiyama at last has a real conversation with Masako about what happened, but angrily tells her he

341-587: The Daiei Unions . These teams eventually became the Chiba Lotte Marines . Suffering from Nagata's profligacy and an industry-wide decline in attendance, Daiei tried to stay alive by teaming up with Nikkatsu to create Dainichi Eihai , but eventually declared bankruptcy in December 1971. Art director Yoshinobu Nishioka and some of the studio's other employees founded Eizo Kyoto Production . Other members of

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372-498: The Kyoto studio of Shinkō Kinema until the government reorganized the industry during World War Two. Against a government plan to combine the fiction film companies into two studios, Nagata fought hard for the alternative option of creating a third studio. His efforts resulted in the creation of the Daiei Motion Picture Company , where he first served as an executive. He rose to become president in 1947 and, apart from

403-635: The Western ballroom dance circuit. Infatuated, he decides on a whim to take dance lessons. Sugiyama’s life changes once his classes begin. Rather than Mai, his teacher is an older woman, Tamako Tamura ( Reiko Kusamura ), who becomes an important mentor to him. He meets his classmates: Tōkichi Hattori ( Yu Tokui ) who joined to impress his wife, and Masahiro Tanaka (Hiromasa Taguchi) who joined to lose weight. He also meets Toyoko Takahashi ( Eriko Watanabe ), another student. He further discovers that one of his colleagues from work, Tomio Aoki ( Naoto Takenaka ), frequents

434-610: The Year. The National Board of Review gave it the award for Best Foreign Language Film. Shall We Dance? was remade in English by Miramax in 2004 as Shall We Dance? , starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in the Yakusho and Kusakari roles respectively. The 2004 remake itself inspired another foreign remake. In 2006, an Egyptian film titled Let's Dance ( Egyptian Arabic : ما تيجي نرقص , romanized:  Mah teegy nor'os )

465-469: The actors Raizō Ichikawa, Shintaro Katsu, Kazuo Hasegawa , Fujiko Yamamoto , Machiko Kyō , and Ayako Wakao ; the directors Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa , Yasuzo Masumura , Tokuzō Tanaka , and Kenji Misumi ; and the cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa and Fujirō Morita . Like some other Japanese film studios, Daiei had its own professional baseball team in the 1950s, the Daiei Stars , which later became

496-865: The age when many Japanese film studios owned professional baseball teams, Nagata served as owner first of the Daiei Stars , and then of the Daimai Orions when the Stars merged with the Mainichi Orions in 1958. He promoted the two-league system, helped build Tokyo Stadium , and became the first president of the Pacific League in Japan. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Shall We Dance%3F (1996 film) Shall We Dance? ( Japanese : Shall we ダンス? , Hepburn : Sharu wī dansu )

527-666: The dance studio. Tomio, who is balding and mocked at work for his rigid ways, is revealed to be secretly a long-haired (via a wig) ballroom dancer. Though distant from her, the classes increase his infatuation with Mai. His secret thus becomes twofold: not only must he hide the lessons from his wife, he must also hide them from his friends and colleagues as it is considered embarrassing according to traditional Japanese customs to participate in Western ballroom dance . Later, after being rebuffed by Mai, Sugiyama discovers to his surprise that his passion for ballroom dance has survived her rejection. Indeed, dance, rather than Mai, has given Sugiyama

558-485: The film a positive review based on 52 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Elegantly told by director Masayuki Suo and warmly performed, Shall We Dance? is a delightful celebration of stepping out of one's comfort zone and cutting a rug." Roger Ebert awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating in the Chicago Sun Times that Shall We Dance? is "one of the more completely entertaining movies I've seen in

589-644: The first Japanese color film to be shown abroad, earning both an honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival . Nagata also produced such renowned films as Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), as well as Jokyo (which was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival ). On the popular front, Nagata's Daiei

620-413: The first Japanese color film to be shown abroad, earning both an honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival . Daiei also produced such renowned films as Kenji Mizoguchi 's Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954), as well as Jokyo ("A Woman's Testament", 1960) which was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival . On

651-429: The floor. Though he successfully catches her, he accidentally rips the skirt of her dress off. Both leave the contest. Sugiyama later learns that Aoki was disqualified. When Aoki is ridiculed at work after his colleagues read of his failure in the newspaper, Sugiyama stands up and tells them not to mock something they don't understand. At home, Sugiyama tells his family that he has given up dance. A little while later, he

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682-479: The meaning in life that he was looking for. Masako, noticing his odd behavior, believes he is having an affair, prompting her to hire a private detective to follow him. Meanwhile, along with his classmates, Sugiyama enters an amateur competition, only to find out that his wife, having finally learned the truth from the detective (who has now become a devoted fan of ballroom dancing), is in the audience. Surprised by this, he stumbles and nearly knocks his dance partner to

713-535: The movie did not represent Japan in the Academy Awards - it went to Gakko II , which ended up failing to secure nomination. At the Japanese Academy Awards it won 14 awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Lighting, Best Music Score, Best Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Newcomer of

744-553: The passing of Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Daiei Film Co. was sold to the Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. In November 2002, Chairman Maihiko Kadokawa announced that Daiei Film Co. would merge with the company's own film division, Kadokawa Pictures , to form Kadokawa-Daiei Film Co. Ltd. In 2004, it dropped the name Daiei and is now known simply as Kadokowa Pictures. Masaichi Nagata Masaichi Nagata ( 永田 雅一 , Nagata Masaichi , 21 January 1906 – 24 October 1985)

775-411: The poem Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare . As the camera pans around the ballroom giving a view of the dancers, a voice-over explains that in Japan, ballroom dancing is treated with suspicion. Successful salaryman Shohei Sugiyama ( Kōji Yakusho ) has a house in the suburbs, a devoted wife, Masako (Hideko Hara), and a teenage daughter, Chikage (Ayano Nakamura). He works as an accountant for

806-620: The popular front, Daiei was also known for such successful film series as the Zatoichi series starring Shintaro Katsu , the Nemuri Kyoshiro ( Sleepy Eyes of Death ) series starring Raizō Ichikawa , the original Gamera series, the Daimajin trilogy and the Yokai Monsters trilogy. Daiei also produced many television series such as Shōnen Jet . At its peak, Daiei featured such talent as

837-632: The production arm of Nikkatsu (the Nikkatsu theaters did not take part in the merger) were merged in 1942 to form the Dai Nippon Eiga Seisaku Kabushiki Kaisha , or Daiei for short. The novelist Kan Kikuchi served as the first president, with Nagata continuing as an executive. Daiei's studios were located in Chofu, Tokyo and in Uzumasa in Kyoto . Nagata became president in 1947 and, apart from

868-527: The union, however, succeeded in getting Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the president of the publishing house Tokuma Shoten , to revive the company in 1974. The company continued as a producer, making only a small number of films, some of which were big budget spectaculars like the international co-production The Go Masters (1982), a new Gamera trilogy (1995, 1996 and 1999), art house hits like Shall We Dance? (1996), and genre films like Kiyoshi Kurosawa 's Pulse or Takashi Miike 's Dead or Alive films. Following

899-554: Was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film . The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera , he produced the kaiju's second film Gamera vs. Barugon , with the remainder of the Showa Gamera films produced instead by his son Hidemasa Nagata . Born in Kyoto, Nagata attended the Ōkura Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō (now Tokyo Keizai University ), but left before graduating. He joined the Nikkatsu studio in 1925 and, after working as

930-579: Was also known for such successful film series as the Zatoichi films starring Shintaro Katsu , the Sleepy Eyes of Death series featuring Raizō Ichikawa , and the Gamera movies. Due to the decline of the film industry, and Nagata's extravagant expenditures, Daiei went bankrupt in 1971, but he continued as an independent producer for some years after that. He produced more than 160 films during his career. During

961-414: Was released on January 27, 1996, in Japan, where it was distributed by Toho . It was released in the United States by Miramax . The Miramax version was cut to 118 minutes and released on July 4, 1997. In Japan, it earned a distribution income ( rentals ) of ¥1.6 billion in 1996, making it the second top-grossing Japanese film of the year, after Godzilla vs. Destoroyah . Shall We Dance? grossed

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