Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2013

Prepare to have your mouth water as you watch the French culinary biopic Haute Cuisine (2012; pictured) on Danièle Delpeuch, a self-trained cook who ruffled the feathers of the gastronomical elite when she was appointed private chef to President Mitterrand in the 1980s. It’s on from September 7 at Bunkamura’s Le Cinema (2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku; www.bunkamura.co.jp) and Ginza’s Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.cineswitch.com)… Acclaimed French director Patrice Leconte tackles Tim-Burtonesque 3D animation with The Suicide Shop, about a mom-and-pop business that sells nooses and the like. The family’s upside-down world is turned, well, upside-down when the latest addition is an undeniably adorable baby. Screening from September 7 at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (2-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku; www.ttcg.jp)… If dumb summer movies have left you wanting something a bit deeper, head to Cinema Vera (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.cinemavera.com) for masterpieces of Russian cinema, running August 31-September 20. The lineup ranges from the 1936 sci-fi flick Cosmic Voyage to Andrei Tarkovsky’s existential thriller Stalker (1979).