Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2013

The edgy film fest Tokyo Filmex runs November 23-December 1 in Yurakucho, giving cinema fans a chance to catch Japanese indie films with English subtitles as well as some of the best of world cinema. This year’s lineup includes Tokyo Bitch, I Love You (pictured), which sets an 18th-century bunraku play in modern-day Japan, and the Thai film Karaoke Girl about a girl from the countryside who gets a job in the big city as a nightclub hostess (http://filmex.net/2013/en)… No one does soul-searching family drama like the French, as can be seen with the film A Few Hours of Spring (2012) screening from November 30 at Ginza’s Cine Switch (4-4-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku ; www.cineswitch.com). A truck driver finds he has nowhere to go but his mother’s house after he is released from prison, and their tense relationship takes a turn when he learns she has a terminal brain tumor and is contemplating assisted suicide. With music by Nick Cave…The Poland Film Festival 2013 will run at Shibuya’s Image Forum (2-10-2 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku; www.imageforum.co.jp), November 30-December 13, bringing together works from the country’s cinematic heyday in the 1960s and more recent entries.