Dance, Subaru!'

'DANCE, SUBARU!'
Directed by: Lee Chi-Ngai
Cast: Meisa Kuroki, Ara, Yûta Hiraoka, Toshio Kakei, Momoi Kaori, Yuta Hiraoka

I was in a confusing mood while entering the cinema to watch this movie. In a remarkable twist of fate from my own mistake, I had to cancel a dinner date in one of the MidValley restaurant right before the movie. It took me sometime to get my focus back on the screen. The first thing that cross my mind upon seeing the movie poster is what's the last dance flicks that I saw or try very hard to forget? The only title came to mind is 'Take The Lead', actually 'Sayang You Can Dance' did also but that's the kind of movie I try to erase from my mind. Japanese movie poster sometimes really misleading, so my first impression is I'll be watching leng luis with hot bods dancing on screen. Yes, it's true but 'Dance, Subaru!' have more than I've expected.

Adapted from the best selling manga by Masahito Soda, Subaru and her twin brother Kazuma share a dream to become a professional ballet dancer. Unfortunately, Kazuma succumbs to hereditary illness and Subaru continues pursuing her dream. She accidentally meet cabaret owner Isuzu (Momoi Kaori), a retired ballerina, who recognises her talent and trains her. However, Subaru always got discouraged by her father who wanted her to have conventional education. With much of convincing from her classmate Mana (Sano Miku) and influence from a Korean-American dancer Liz Park (Ara), Subaru enters an international dance competition for a scholarship to any top ballet company in the world. You can see the cute and adorable factor from the child actors which can dance more better than the adult Subaru and every time the black cat make its appearance. One more thing, the child actor gives a powerful expression compared to the blank stare that Meisa Kuroki sometimes gives. The story is beautifully constructed and easy to digest but the Hong Kong director Lee Chi Ngai takes a lot of time to built up some scene. When he reaches the climax, it's not special anymore. For example the scene where Subaru tries to feel the space around her using her senses (there's a term in the movie but I couldn't remember): from the point Subaru paint her glasses with a marker, then went into a sudden dance trance in a hip hop club, Liz pull her out to give her advice, she tried again, the slow mo with lighting effect started and finally we understand what the climax of the scene is all about. I got lost after she got into the dance trance as the rest of the scene got draggy.
The plot of buddy dancer turn to enemy was the most interesting of all but they’re afraid to develop more on the romance between Subaru and Kohei (Yuta Hiraoka), possibly because of time constraint. In technical, we usually exposed by Hollywood dance flick with overhead shot, fast track shot, and tight camera shot of the dancer body movement but none of that is being use here. Director Lee use a basic camera shot on most of the final competition dance scene and surprisingly, it works since it gives more classical look.

The dance routine by Meisa Kuroki is not perfect but after reading an article that she only took four months of intense ballet training at the same time have to master hip-hop, contemporary and bolero, she got my respect for pulling off a believable performance. 'Dance, Subaru!' is filled with drama, tragedy, inspiration, motivation and most importantly passion to fulfill a destiny. Well, it manages to ease the pain of the earlier failed date attempt and somehow motivate me to give it a second try. Hehehe.

~ESK