(posting an old article)
If you are suffering from the silent torment of life, if you are in the midst of a career, if you treat your loved ones If you lose your enthusiasm, maybe you should find an interest and reason for yourself like the middle-aged man in this movie, so that you may not age too quickly.
The movie is about "social dance", which is a dance for adults in social interaction, which has been loved by more and more people. My mother was also obsessed with this dance when she was not confused, and she often took me to and from the ballroom. In the open-air park I pass through every day, I can often see nearby residents dancing there. Although their dances are not perfect, the passion for life is deeply affected by me. I think my mother is the same. Although in those days, people would hear a lot of rumors and rumors, but "social dance" itself is not as dirty as people think. It can make people exercise and at the same time harvest friendship-from a certain In this sense, it is a language of communication with beautiful forms and diverse programs.
The middle-aged man in the film is named Sugiyama. Every night when he takes the subway, he looks up at a window with the name "Kishan Dance School" at the stop. A melancholy young woman stands next to the window. He finally thought about it again and again, walked into that school, and became one with the members of that group. The story unfolded slowly. From the beginning, he was attracted by the young dance teacher and had the urge to learn to dance. After being flatly rejected by her, he devoted himself to studying dance until he quit the dance school. The plot of the story is not ups and downs, and there is nothing touching. However, the introverted middle-aged mood is shown meticulously. From a closed middle-aged man who is constrained by society, we may not feel any turbulent emotions. However, the director Zhou Fangzhengxing used a "dance" to open a hole, let him get in, and then open his own heart. . Most of the middle-aged men who live by our side focus on their careers. They are completely ignorant of the joy of life. It is this heavy social responsibility that makes their expressions dignified and their thoughts muddled. From Sugiyama played by Yakusho Koji, you can see that he is the supervisor of the unit, Jinri suits and ties, but is he really happy? Although he married a wife, gave birth to a child, and bought a house, the monotonous commuting to and from get off work day after day would really erode his life? Isn’t the highest human need exactly the need to "realize self-worth" mentioned by Maslow? If Sugiyama is only satisfied with his career, then such a life can be taken care of, and the director does not need to use the film to exhort middle-aged people to learn how to enjoy life.
However, although the director's intention is very simple, it has made this group of middle-aged people a valuable point. Although Sugiyama had a bad "motivate" to learn to dance, he eventually stepped onto the dance floor of an amateur dance competition under the encouragement of Mai Kishikawa (played by Mindai Kusakari). However, the director here deliberately designed a story about Mai Kishikawa. She looks cold and picky about her partner, but what is hidden under the outside is her love of dance. It turned out that she lost in a professional dance competition a few years ago, so she blamed her partner for the cause, but she couldn't let her go, so she settled down in a dance school run by her parents. Although love is more obscure in this film, the director’s intention is obviously to show that social dance is a coordinated dance of both parties, rather than a unilateral investment. To dance well, it is not limited to the skillful and graceful dance steps, but also pay more attention to it. It is the elegant demeanor and the tacit understanding of cooperation in the dancing process. In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a tool of "communication". As I said earlier, it is "another language." "How to express" and "what to express" are its ultimate goals. This is always a mutual relationship. problem. Therefore, when Mr. Kishikawa Mai blamed her dance partner, she was actually hurting herself. It was her pride that made her lose the game, but Sugiyama's enthusiasm and humility for dancing deeply moved her, especially There was an accident during the game, and his performance in taking care of his dance partner freed her from the trauma of the soul.
At the end of the film, the two danced in the song "Shall we dance". From the gray-headed middle-aged man with a briefcase to the energetic prince charming on the dance floor, this is like a legend of "the frog turns into a prince". It's just that our protagonist is no longer young, but has a family with a wife and daughter, but these are not hindrances but highlight his inner pursuit of freedom. In addition to him, there are Aoki (played by Naoto Takenaka) and Toyoko (played by Eriko Watanabe) and others who also learn to dance. They all have all kinds of "heart diseases" before they come to this school to learn dance. For example, Aoki can't get ahead in his career, so he can only gain a little confidence in dancing; while Toyoko is obsessed with dancing because of missing her dead husband. The interspersion of these two "harlequins" makes the originally stagnant film style exude a sense of comedy. You think, Sugiyama and Kishikawa Mai are the kind of people with introverted character and not many words. If you just talk about them, the film will definitely look tedious and boring.
After the impetuous youth, everyone will face the responsibilities and pressure of middle age. The purpose of the film is to tell us that even if we live so hard, we must find ways to cultivate our own interests and make our lives more colorful. Every time my mother comes to Hangzhou, she always visits those open-air parks and participates in their dances. I watch her every move. She infects me and touches me like this movie. I think, In the future, I will be like her, full of hope in life, and I will live with confidence, and live a long, long life...
When you are bored, you might as well say: Shall we dance?
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