Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Photo ©Nouvelles Éditions de Films

Through April 30, Brillia Short Shorts Theater in Yokohama (www.brillia-sst.jp; 045-633-2151) is showing a collection of four films about chance meetings. One highlight is Morgenschwarm (“Morning Flirt,” 2005; pictured), which tells the story of a German businessman whose life is turned upside-down when a beautiful woman disturbs his morning commuting ritual. Also on the program is the American short Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (1987), about a man’s initiation into a secret club where high-powered business deals are made.

Brillia will also host a screening and talk by Naoto Takenaka on April 17. A mainstay of variety TV programs, the comedian has a side career as a director of quirky, dramatic shorts starring celebrity friends Tadanobu Asano, Eiko Sato and others.

Ikebukuro cinema Shin-Bungeiza (www.shin-bungeiza.com; 03-3971-9422) will screen a retrospective of films by Kaneto Shindo in celebration of the director’s 98th birthday. In his long career, Shindo has directed landmark films like The Children of Hiroshima (1952), a gritty drama filmed set against the postwar rebuilding of the city, and The Story of Hachiko (1987), which was recently given a Hollywood remake.