Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2014

Fans of soul-searching cinema in the vein of Eat Pray Love will want to tag along with the Italian drama Viaggio Sola (I Travel Alone; pictured), screening in Italian at Bunkamura’s Le Cinema (2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku; www.bunkamura.co.jp). Margherita Buy plays a 40-something hotel critic who travels to the great resorts of Europe, only to catalogue every little thing the staff does wrong. When her work routine is disrupted, she is forced to take stock of her own life… Prolific French auteur François Ozon returns to his common themes of youth and eroticism with his latest film Jeune & Jolie. It tells the story of a sheltered 17-year-old girl as she matures, segmented with four songs for the four seasons, in French and on from February 15 at Ginza’s Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku ; www.cineswitch.com) and Shinjuku Piccadilly (3-15-15 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku; www.shinjukupiccadilly.com)…The Tokyo Northern Life Festival presents Scandinavian features, shorts and docs, February 8-14 at Shibuya’s Eurospace (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.eurospace.co.jp). The lineup includes the Icelandic film Of Horses and Men and a program of documentaries on Moomin creator Tove Jansson. www.tnlf.jp