Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

© Paramount Japan K.K.

With Bob Dylan’s upcoming Tokyo shows sold out, those not lucky enough to get a ticket can console themselves by heading over to Shibuya’s Image Forum (03-5766-0114; www.imageforum.co.jp) to check out a trio of Dylan docs, running till April 9. D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back (1967) features Dylan struggling with his own fame during a British tour, while Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home (pictured, 2005) offers an overview of the enigmatic artist’s early career. The Last Waltz (1978), also by Scorsese, features the singer surrounded by friends and collaborators… Ikebukuro cinema Shin-Bungeiza (03-3971-9422; www.shin-bungeiza.com) is running a series of double features of films based on Japanese literary classics from March 28-April 10. Highlights include Ongaku and Kinkakuji, based on novels by Yukio Mishima, and Kobo Abe’s Woman in the Dunes, winner of a Special Jury Award at Cannes in 1964… Coinciding with the Festival du Film Francais at Toho Cinema Roppongi Hills, Shibuya’s Eurospace (03-3461-0211; www.eurospace.co.jp) is holding retrospectives of pioneering French filmmakers. Alan Renais is celebrated March 20-26, with showings of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), the dreamlike Last Year at Marienbad (1961) and other seminal works.

Unless noted, Japanese films screen without English subtitles. Non-English language films are shown with Japanese subtitles only.