Parents' Guide to 10Dance

Despite all the incredibly serious-looking faces throughout this film, it's hard to take it, well, seriously. For some reason, 10Dance chooses to depict the main characters' gay romance as a painful experience, period. Outside of one dance montage scene that stereotypes Cuban culture, we never see either main character smile, laugh, enjoy each other's company, or be positive in any way. Every single encounter, including their kissing sessions, are tinged with seriousness, vague verbal jousting, and almost hatred. What's also odd is that it's never quite clear why neither character ever simply just says, hey, what's going on here? Are you afraid to openly start a relationship with me because Japanese culture won't accept us? Or are we always sneering at each other and weirdly insulting each other because you want to stay closeted?

Again, nothing of substance is ever really stated or clarified, and the main characters' entire flirty few instances of making out ultimately come to nothing. Nor do they or anyone else ever compete in the "10 Dance" competition the title of the film implies. Indeed, this is a film that "boldly" states early on: "Hey, it's okay for a guy to find another guy attractive!" And the main character being told this, basically responds by going, "Oh, okay! I guess I do want to make out ferociously with this other man who may or may not identify as gay." Further, this film heavily implies that one of the Shinya characters isn't dancing to his best ability because he isn't out. Similarly, this film also argues that dance partners who are in love will always be "better" than dance partners who aren't in love, which is also hard to believe.