When Russian-born Hollywood actor Anton Yelchin died in a freak car accident in June, he left behind a filmography that ranges from indie hits to sci-fi blockbusters. Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com) pays tribute to the mourned star with an all-night screening of some of his best work, kicking off at 10:30pm on August 13. The lineup includes Rudderless (pictured), in which Yelchin employed his musical skills to play a young guitarist who helps a grieving father overcome the loss of his son.
The world lost one of its greatest musicians when David Bowie passed away in January. But the music icon also kept busy as an actor, taking cameos, supporting roles and occasional leads. One of the best is in Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 sci-fi parable The Man Who Fell to Earth. Bowie plays an alien who comes to earth to steal its water, and becomes wealthy from inventions based on his planet’s advanced technology. But the plot takes the back seat to surrealistic imagery. On from August 27 at Human Trust Cinema Yurakucho (2-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku; www.ht-cinema.com)
Shibuya arthouse Cinema Vera (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.cinemavera.com) continues its presentation of some of the greatest films ever made with the program Cinema Canon vol. 15, starting July 30 and running through late August. The films include Spellbound (1945) which saw Alfred Hitchcock team up with Salvador Dali to create surreal imagery, the atmospheric film noir The Big Combo (1955) and Orson Welles’ adaptation of Othello (1952). All films screen as double features for ¥1,400.
French New Wave director Jacques Rivette, who died in January at the age of 87, is honored with screenings at Waseda Shochiku (1-5-16 Takadanobaba, Shinjuku-ku; www.wasedashochiku.co.jp), August 6-12. The Gang of Four (1988; pictured) looks into the lives of four women studying together at a drama school, The Nun (1966) is about a girl in the 18th century forced to take the vow against her will and The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991) stars Jane Birkin as an artist’s muse.
