Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2011

One of the great starlets of the Japanese silver screen, Setsuko Hara will be the subject of a program at Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com), May 20-28. Hara was dubbed “the Eternal Virgin” by the Japanese media, and was a favorite of directors Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse and especially Yasujiro Ozu, who cast her as a devoted daughter in Tokyo Story (1953; pictured). Hara abruptly retired from movies after Ozu died in 1963… Late French director Claude Chabrol, who passed away last year, will be honored with a retrospective at Shibuya’s Image Forum (2-10-2 Shibuya; www.imageforum.co.jp), from May 21. The lineup includes the thrillers Merci pour le chocolat (2000) and The Flower of Evil (2002)…The documentary In the Wind (Kaze no naka de) is screening from May 15 at Laputa in Asagaya (2-12-21 Asagaya Kita, Suginami-ku; www.laputa-jp.com/laputa). The film depicts a month in the life of kindergarten students at a Suginami school which contains a wooded area on its grounds where the children can learn about nature.

Unless otherwise noted, Japanese films are shown without English subtitles and non-English language films are shown with only Japanese subtitles.