Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2010

©1952 Shochiku Co., Ltd. All rights reserved

Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com) will pay tribute to Showa-era screen star Ryo Ikebe, December 22-31. Ikebe, who passed away in October at the age of 82, was known for his rugged good looks and his everyman roles in films such as Modern People (1952; pictured) and Snow Country (1957).

Giuseppe Tornatore, whose 1988 film New Cinema Paradise was a runaway hit in Japan, has followed up with Baarìa (2009), an epic story of three generations of a family in the small Sicilian town where the director was born. Tornatore employed more than 35,000 extras to portray the social and military upheavals of Italy in the ’30s. The film screens at Ginza’s Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.cineswitch.com) and Kadokawa Cinema Shinjuku (3-13-3 Shinjuku; www.kadokawa-cinema.jp) from December 18.

The animated Canadian rock opera Rock & Rule (1983) is screening at Shibuya’s Theater N (24-4 Sakuragicho, Shibuya-ku; www.theater-n.com) through the end of December. A cult classic, the film boasts a soundtrack by Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and others.