For cinephiles it’s worth biting the bullet and braving the ¥500 table charge and which brings with it some insultingly tiny snacks (we were given one dish bearing six pieces of microwaved penne with a nondescript meat-like sauce—for two of us). Once you stifle your rage at such injustice, you will be delighted to cast your eyes upon the old movie posters including The Sting, Blues Brothers, and the obligatory Audrey Hepburn portrait, among others, dotted among bottle-lined shelves.

The bar has been in its present form for 23 years but the drinks are not exclusively oldies. Apart from a section of “Movie Classics” topped by The Godfather (whisky, short), the “New” section was what we gravitated towards first, ordering a Black Swan (brandy, short) and The Fighter (beer, long), both ¥940. A lady further down the bar was well into a Mamma Mia, which looked like a parrot drowned in a pot of turpentine—only tastier.

The Fighter was, in many ways, much like Christian Bale’s character in the movie: cheap, thin, and Irish. The nama Kirin beer with Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey and a large chunk of ice went down damn smooth and filled my Canadian associate with cinematic memories of his Canadian college days.

To finish on a contemporary note, we went for a Back to the Future, containing lime, ginger ale, blue Curaçao and Ronrico 151 rum. The rum is poured flaming into your glass, simulating the fiery tracks of the Delorean time machine. A show stealer, it had the whole bar ooh-ing and ahh-ing. The drink itself was light, simple and refreshing, just like Robert Zemeckis’ 1985 family classic.