Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2010

© 大島渚プロ

A retrospective of the eternal rebel of Japanese cinema, Nagisa Oshima, will screen September 30-October 8 at Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku; www.shin-bungeiza.com). Highlights include Cruel Story of Youth (1960), a movie about teenage rebellion in a style influenced by the French New Wave, and the highly controversial In the Realm of the Senses (1976; pictured), a story of fatal sexual obsession in ’30s Japan.

Micmacs (2009), the latest offering by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie), is showing at Ginza’s Cine Switch from September 25 (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku; www.cineswitch.com). The film tells the story of the victim of a freak drive-by shooting who emerges from the hospital jobless and homeless, until he is welcomed into a group of misfit dreamers living in the city dump.

Cult film fans should head to The Human Trust Cinema Shibuya (7-8F, 1-23-16 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku; www.ht-cinema.com) for the surreal Mexican western El Topo (1970), screening from September 25. The film, a favorite of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, David Lynch and Marilyn Manson, is being shown in a digitally remastered print to mark its 40th anniversary.

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