Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2010

Few artists rose from humbler origins than Séraphine Louis, a housemaid in rural France who used improvised materials to create paintings in her scant free time. Now, nearly 70 years after Louis’ death, prestigious museums display her vibrantly colored canvases. The biopic Séraphine (pictured), screening from August 7 at Iwanami Hall (2-1 Kanda-Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku; www.iwanami-hall.com), won seven César Awards on its release in France in 2008

The French-Spanish co-production In the City of Sylvia (2007), by up-and-coming director José Luis Guerín, is screening from August 7 at Shibuya’s Image Forum (2-10-2 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku; www.imageforum.co.jp). With minimal dialogue in French and Spanish, the story concerns a man who ventures to Strasbourg to track down a woman he met in the city six years earlier

Fans of yakuza flicks will want to don their shiny suits and head to Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com) for a Battles Without Honor and Humanity marathon on August 14. The first film in the series (1973) is often considered to be “the Japanese Godfather,” appearing as it did a year after Coppola’s landmark film; it was also the first movie to portray the yakuza in an ultra-violent, documentary style, rather than as chivalrous outlaws. The screening includes the first five films in the series, all by director Kinji Fukasaku, who went on to make Battle Royale in 2000.