In the romantic comedy Shall We Dance? Jennifer Lopez, in full sizzle, minces no words in evoking what ballroom dancing is all about. Instructing Richard Gere in the rumba, she defines it as "a vertical expression of a horizontal wish." And in the too-brief sequence in which they meld as an iconic dance-floor couple, they approach the swooning grace of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, whom the movie holds up as ultimate dancing partners afloat in pure rapture.
The director Peter Chelsom (Serendipity) and the screenwriter Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun) understand that dance movies, to sustain their giddy spell, must remain feverishly on their toes, even when there's no swooping and gliding in sight.
PHOTO: AP
Shall We Dance? is an Americanization of a popular 1996 Japanese film and is an old-fashioned, feel-good fantasy that piles on the euphoria.
Instead of a quiet rebel against the straitjacket of Japanese conformity, its hero is a suburban paragon instinctively rushing to the spice rack to add more flavor to his life. By the time the movie ends, you've been doused with so much cinnamon, nutmeg and Hollywood tinsel that it might as well be Christmas.
The movie returns Gere to the site of his hoofing triumph in Chicago. His character, John Clark, is a mild-mannered estate lawyer, happily married with two teenage children. Vaguely discontented, John, on an impulse, starts taking evening classes at Miss Mitzi's Ballroom Dancing Studio, the pink lights beckon to him each day as he passes it on the train to work.
Lopez's character, Paulina, whom he has noticed standing at the studio's window, is an instructor who takes a special interest in John's progress while he trains for a contest.
The movie saves us from the embarrassment of watching John and Paulina pursue a May-to-December fling. The romantic lightning flickering between them in their final practice session is sublimated desire that generates far more heat than any messy bedroom tussle. The movie also goes out of its way to give Gere's colorless John at least half a dozen broad comic foils.
Shall We Dance? remains blissfully untethered to reality. Dance in the movies has always been synonymous with transcendence, as characters step out of their mundane lives into a wonderland where time stops.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
Australia’s ABC last week published a piece on the recall campaign. The article emphasized the divisions in Taiwanese society and blamed the recall for worsening them. It quotes a supporter of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as saying “I’m 43 years old, born and raised here, and I’ve never seen the country this divided in my entire life.” Apparently, as an adult, she slept through the post-election violence in 2000 and 2004 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the veiled coup threats by the military when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, the 2006 Red Shirt protests against him ginned up by
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