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Fancy Dance

Play trailer 1:25 Poster for Fancy Dance 1989 1h 42m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 0 Reviews 69% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Popular punk rock singer Yohei (Masahiro Motoki, Departures) agrees to become a Buddhist monk for a year in order to inherit his family's lucrative temple. With his head fully shaved he leaves behind his aggressive girlfriend and other worldly desires for an ascetic lifestyle in the countryside. There he is teamed up with a quirky cast of characters, including his younger brother, who becomes a monastic heartthrob of the fanatical high school girls nearby. While life is hard at first with endless duties and harassment by the higher-ups, pretty soon Yohei discovers that even the senior monks have found ways to buck the system. Some of the nefarious activities of the novice and seasoned monks include dating a woman on the sly, cavorting at hostess bars outside campus grounds, hording candies and other secular antics. When Yohei's estranged girlfriend comes to drag him back to secular life he finds himself at a crossroads. The sophomore feature by Masayuki Suo (Shall We Dance?) is a sublime hangout comedy whose "mix of belly laughs, slapstick, sex jokes and satire pushes towards a predictably serene, spiritual conclusion" (Time Out).

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Masayuki Suo's "first" film is about a set of guys who decide to become Buddhist monks at a temple. First is a rock star who must study for 1 year, being the oldest son of a Buddhist monk. Another is his younger brother, who goes because he wants to. A third is a guy who is about to marry a Buddhist monk's daughter and must go to the temple, and last a fatso that is pushed by his mother for discipline. And at the temple, the 4 mens' lives are going to change, for better or worse... Suo's first (not counting the pink stuff) is hilarious, touching, simplistic, yet something of a minor classic, and working with actors and staff he would also later be attached to in his other films. Just makes you wish he would make more films on a faster pace... Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member (*** 1/2): Thumbs Up A hilarious film that had me laughing throughout. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Fancy Dance

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Cast & Crew

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Masayuki Suo

Director

Masahiro Motoki

Yohei Shiono

Miyako Koda

Shosui

Honami Suzuki

Masoho Akashi

Ken Osawa

Ikuo Shiono

Hikomaro

Eishun Sasaki
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Fancy Dance

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Fancy Dance

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Movie Info

Synopsis Popular punk rock singer Yohei (Masahiro Motoki, Departures) agrees to become a Buddhist monk for a year in order to inherit his family's lucrative temple. With his head fully shaved he leaves behind his aggressive girlfriend and other worldly desires for an ascetic lifestyle in the countryside. There he is teamed up with a quirky cast of characters, including his younger brother, who becomes a monastic heartthrob of the fanatical high school girls nearby. While life is hard at first with endless duties and harassment by the higher-ups, pretty soon Yohei discovers that even the senior monks have found ways to buck the system. Some of the nefarious activities of the novice and seasoned monks include dating a woman on the sly, cavorting at hostess bars outside campus grounds, hording candies and other secular antics. When Yohei's estranged girlfriend comes to drag him back to secular life he finds himself at a crossroads. The sophomore feature by Masayuki Suo (Shall We Dance?) is a sublime hangout comedy whose "mix of belly laughs, slapstick, sex jokes and satire pushes towards a predictably serene, spiritual conclusion" (Time Out).
Director
Masayuki Suo
Producer
Hiroshi Yamamoto, Shoji Masui
Screenwriter
Masayuki Suo
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Runtime
1h 42m