I went to see The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou today. Which I enjoyed.
Shall We Dance? is a low-key Japanese film about a married salaryman accountant who sees an attractive woman in a dance studio from his commuter train and decides to take ballroom dancing lessons.
Hollywood has just remade it with Richard Gere playing the part as a successful lawyer and J-Lo as the dance teacher. I find it hard to believe that any of the atmosphere could survive that bit of casting. So why do they remake these movies in a way which is guaranteed to kill exactly what was appealing about the original?
I haven’t actually seen the remake – perhaps it’s better than one would expect. I can certainly recommend the original, though.