Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2010

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A series celebrating the maestros of Italian cinema kicks off at Shibuya’s Image Forum on Christmas Day (2-10-2 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku; www.imageforum.co.jp). The first program, running through February 5, includes Bernardo Bertolucci’s crime drama The Conformist (1970; pictured), Federico Fellini’s paean to childhood memory, The Clowns (1970), and Roberto Rossellini’s political thriller General della Rovere (1959).

Fans of campy Japanese sci-fi will want to head to Ginza Cine Patos (4-8-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.humax-cinema.co.jp) for a series of films featuring human transformations. The program, which runs through December 30, includes The Human Vapor (1960), about a mild-mannered librarian who is changed into an invisible gas due to a science experiment gone wrong. Also on the bill is a classic with a self-explanatory title: Attack of the Mushroom People (1963).

The English-language documentary 442: Live with Honor, Die with Dignity (2010), is showing at K’s Cinema in Shinjuku through the end of the year (3-35-13 Shinjuku; www.ks-cinema.com). Contemporary interviews and archival photos tell the story of a regiment of Japanese-American soldiers in WWII who fought both prejudice and the Axis forces, going on to become the most decorated unit in American military history.