Cinematic Underground: Serious Laughs

Cinematic Underground: Serious Laughs

World cinema offers stories both comedic and dramatic

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Toni Erdmann: ©2016 Komplizen Film
The Dancer: © 2016 Les Productions Du Tresor - Wild Bunch - Orange Studio - Les Films Du Fleuve - Sirena Film
The Dancer: © 2016 Les Productions Du Tresor – Wild Bunch – Orange Studio – Les Films Du Fleuve – Sirena Film

The Dancer takes a look at the life of Loie Fuller, an American who at the turn of the century became the toast of Paris, where she posed for the Impressionists and appeared in some of the earliest motion pictures. The film — like its subject — is bilingual and focuses on her complicated relationship with fellow ex-pat dancer Isadora Duncan (Lily-Rose Depp). Screening from June 3 at Bunkamura’s Le Cinema (2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku; www.bunkamura.co.jp).

The Salesman: ©2016 Mementofilms Production – Asghar Farhadi Production – Arte France Cinema
The Salesman: © 2016 Mementofilms Production – Asghar Farhadi Production – Arte France Cinema

Tokyo finally gets a release date for The Salesman,which made headlines when it won the Oscar for best foreign language film, but the Iranian director boycotted the ceremony over Trump’s travel ban. The story focuses on a couple whose marriage is put to the test when they are forced to move to an apartment with a violent history. Screening from June 10 at Cinema Qualite (3-37-12 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; qualite.musashino-k.jp).

The French romantic comedy Up For Love tests the physical limits of a relationship when a statuesque lawyer hits it off with an architect on the phone, but finds there is significant difference in height when she meets the man (a CGI-shrunk Jean Dujardin). Playing from June 17 at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (2-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku; www.ht-cinema.com).

Austrian comedy-drama Toni Erdmann takes dad jokes to the extreme in its look at a work-obsessed young woman and her fraught relationship with a father addicted to practical jokes. Equal parts hilarious and touching, it hits the screens June 24 at Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.cineswitch.com).