Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2010

Shibuya’s Cinema Vera (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; www.cinemavera.com) is opening its vaults to show a collection of masterpieces from the history of cinema, September 4-October 1. The lineup includes works that will be familiar to any student who has sat through film 101 class, namely Citizen Kane (1941; pictured) and Battleship Potemkin (1925), as well as lighter fare like the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup (1933).

Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com) continues its series of tributes to world filmmakers with an all-night marathon of movies by acclaimed documentary director Frederick Wiseman on September 11. Wiseman trained as a lawyer before turning to directing relatively late in life, creating cinéma vérité docs on the social institutions that shape American life. Note: all films in English.

Micmacs à tire-larigot (translated as “Non-stop shenanigans”), the latest film by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is screening at Ebisu Garden Cinema (www.kadokawa-gardencinema.jp/yebisu) from September 4. As with Jeunet’s earlier film, the international hit Amelie, happenstance plays a major part: the central character is the victim of a random shooting and later finds himself living in the city dump with a group of misfits.

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