as feel-good formulaic as it may be in its own way , shall we dance ? also demonstrates <POS> a kind of charming restraint </POS> you don't often find in american films . this japanese import tells the story of a middle-aged accountant named sugiyama ( koji yakusho ) whose mundane life is shaken up one night when he spots beautiful mai kishikawa ( tamiyo kusakari ) in the window of a dance school . intrigued by her melancholy demeanor ( and slightly infatuated with her ) , sugiyama signs up for weekly classes at the school -- and , much to his amazement , ends up as attracted to dancing itself as to his young sensei . meanwhile , sugiyama's wife ( hideko hara ) becomes suspicious of his late wednesday nights , and sets a private detective on her husband's trail . in a hollywood film , you can bet that sub-plot would be turned into a stream of slapstick comedy and crazy misunderstandings . in shall we dance ? , writer/director masayuki suo dispenses with it in a matter of minutes , using it to set up later character interactions rather than letting it overwhelm the story with pratfalls . neither does he make the climactic moment of victory a competition between the hero and some mean-spirited token rival . suo gives his comedy <POS> the graceful movements of his subject matter , allowing the humor to flow from the characters rather than forcing it upon them </POS> . an opening prologue in shall we dance ? goes to some effort to place the film in a sociological perspective , explaining how contrary ballroom dancing is to the japanese sense of propriety . it's a forced message in a story which doesn't need such a culture-specific angle . the dance school in shall we dance ? plays the role of a singles' mixer , with everyone vaguely embarrassed to be there yet taking the opportunity to try on new personalities . most amusing among these new personalities is the one adopted by sugiyama's co-worker mr . aoki ( naoto takenaka ) , a balding systems analyst who becomes a fiery latin lover when he dons a frizzy wig and begins to rumba . sugiyama's awakening is less overt , but koji yakusho <POS> does a wonderful job </POS> showing a transformation of small steps . it's <POS> a delicate performance with a huge heart </POS> . shall we dance ? is a fairly lightweight experience , which makes its final half hour rather a long sit . suo crams a lot of exposition into very little time , including an unnecessarily detailed back-story for mai , resulting in a sluggish march towards the resolution . it is here that shall we dance ? feels most hollywood-conventional , attempting to blind-side the audience with a truckload of emotional catharsis . suo might have been better advised to conclude with <POS> the small gem of a scene </POS> in which sugiyama and his wife take their first tentative dance steps together . that's the real joy of dance shall we dance ? conveys : <POS> its ability to create an intoxicating mood of romance which can soften the stiffest shirt </POS> .
