Pioneering filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka will be honored with a retrospective at Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com), June 14-24. Tanaka starred in Japan’s first talkie as well as 15 films by legendary director Kenji Mizuguchi, including Ugetsu (1953; pictured). She became only the second female director in Japan in 1953, which ended her association with Mizuguchi who opposed her move to the other side of the camera. She continued appearing in films till the year before her death in 1977…Late Brazilian cult director Glauber Rocha, whose films such as Black God, White Devil (1964) are known for their mystical and political symbolism, will be screened Shibuya’s Eurospace (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.eurospace.co.jp), June 18-July 15. Several of Rocha’s films will have their Japan premieres during the retrospective. http://sky-way.jp/rocha/… Larger movie theaters around Japan have been closing one after another, with Cine Saison and Ebisu Garden Cinema closing in Tokyo in the last six months, while tiny art houses are growing stronger. It is a phenomenon explored in Megumi Morita’s documentary A Small Cinema in a Small Town about a small theater in Hokkaido that has been in operation for 93 years, screening from June 18 at Pole Pole (4-4-1 Higashi Nakano, Nakano-ku; www.mmjp.or.jp/pole2).
Unless otherwise noted, Japanese films are shown without English subtitles and non-English language films are shown with only Japanese subtitles.
Metropolis
Metropolis is Japan's No. 1 English magazine, covering the nation's culture, fashion, entertainment and lifestyle for both local residents and aficionados abroad.
