I recently saw the movie "Shall We Dansu (dance)?" at the Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. I can honestly say it was one of (if not the) most enjoyable film experiences I have ever sat through. Not only was the movie hillarious, beautiful, and poignant, but the theater was filled with an appreciative audience who reacted well to all the scenes. After the movie, Roger Ebert, the Chicago Consulate General of Japan, and a professor from the University of WIsconsin came up on stage to talk about the film. They mentioned that Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere were remaking this film. That depresses the heck out of me! The point of the film was a Japanese man's struggles to find meaning in his life first through a mysterious woman and later through dance despite the cultural embarrassment associated with it. Ballroom dancing isn't culturally frowned upon here in the US so I'm wondering how they are going to present this effectively.

On a side note, anyone know if this movie is going to be released on DVD ever? The suspense is killing me!

I hope they don't remake this film. I loved this film. The culture angle really made the film. To redo it here wouldn't be the same.

Sadly our hopes (as I completely agree) mean nothing as this movie is scheduled to come out in August 2004 or around that time.

As a fellow fan of this movie, do you have the VHS, Laser disk, or are you simply waiting for the possibility of a DVD in the future?

I had made a VHS copy, but it was lost in my last move. I would like to have it on DVD. I wonder if it can be found on Region 2 or Region 3 DVD?

The nightmare has become reality- the remake will be invading your neighborhood theaters October 15th, 2004!

http://www.miramax.com/shallwedance/index.html

It would be great if- as the price we pay to endure this remake- they finally release the original Japanese film on dvd. I currently have it on VHS and VCD. The VCD quality is terrible but it does have additional scenes cut from the VHS.