The Japanese film industry has made many musical films, but almost no Hollywood-style musicals. One reason why is Eizo Sugawa¡¯s ¡°You Can Succeed, Too¡± (1964), a singing, dancing salaryman musical inspired by the Broadway hit ¡°How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.¡± Billed by the Toho studio as Japan¡¯s ¡°first real musical¡± it was also famously a flop.
Shinobu Yaguchi¡¯s sparkling new comedy ¡°Dance With Me¡± features salarymen and OLs (office ladies) belting and hoofing through big production numbers. But it is also not an attempt to out-succeed ¡°Succeed.¡±
Yaguchi, who has been directing hit comedies from his original scripts since his 2001 breakthrough ¡°Water Boys,¡± has made what might be called an ¡°anti-musical musical film.¡±
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