Shall We Dance - Prologue

[Alan Makinen]

Carole Cavanaugh wrote:
 
> Did Suou say what the alterations were? I saw the film in the U.S. in
> August and the opening scene in the Japanese video I have seems 
> the same. If there is any contextualization it would seem to be for a 
> Japanese audience. The voice-over explains the European origins of
> ballroom dancing, shakou dansu. There's a quotation from Shakespeare 
> and one from Adam Smith. As David Desser points out, the scene of 
> apparently British dancers is reprised later in the film. Did Suou 
> give any details?

He did. Unfortunately I didn't take notes, and for me 6 months and 130
other movies have passed before my eyes. Joseph Murphy's post quoting
Suo in print sounds just about like what I remember Suo saying in
front of the audience that night; that is, that the voice-over during
the introductory sequence had been changed--specifically so that foreign
viewers would understand how socially unconventional it would be for a
Japanese to take up ballroom dancing--and that the total running time of
the film had been trimmed to meet the distributor's requirements. He
said that the cuts in the version we saw didn't significantly affect the
story; the attitude he displayed about having to have made cuts was
fairly blithe.

By the way, Suo said that if he identified with a character in the film,
it would be the daughter. Relating the family situation in the film to
that of his own, he said that he wished he had been so forthcoming as a
child in compelling communication between his parents.


-- 
        
Alan Makinen
Chicago