BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

l_rawjalaurence CUTIE AND THE BOXER is a no-holds barred documentary focusing on the 40- year marriage of Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko. Ushio established his reputation in Japan as a leading avant-garde artist before emigrating to the United States; since his marriage in the early Seventies, it's clear he has assumed a dominant role as artist and alcoholic, seldom taking much notice of his wife, also an artist. Zachary Heinzerling's film shows how Noriko carved out a niche for herself by creating designs for herself, focusing on a character called Cutie and her struggles for self-determination. The subjects of such designs are very closely related to Noriko's own life; it's clear she has experienced a difficult time trying to put up with a difficult husband - who throughout his life has found it hard to make a living through his art - and a son who drinks too much. It's a tribute to her stoicism that she not only manages to retain her artistic voice, but creates designs of her own that satirize her husband. Ushio, by now a reformed alcoholic, views his wife's paintings indulgently; they don't represent a threat to his masculinity, nor his status as an artist. In truth Noriko's designs are far more expressive than her husband's - although Ushio claims to produce material that will show a "new" artist, he only ever produces copies of work created several decades previously. Director Heinzerling makes no judgment on either of the protagonists, but leaves us to make up our own minds, What is perhaps most admirable is the way the couple have stayed together through thick and thin - despite their differences, they are obviously still in love with one another.

David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. This finishes off my viewing of the five Oscar nominated documentary features. Filmmaker Zachary Heinzerling starts us off on the 80th birthday of Ushio Shinohara. His wife Noriko has provided individual serving cakes and his has a number 3 candle on it. The candle has no significance other than they "don't have 80 candles". The rest of the movie is about what this couple does and does not have.Ushio has had quite a career as an artist, starting with his Neo-Dadaism movement in Japan and carrying over to his popularity in New York City with his sculptures made from discarded items and his "boxing" paintings, of which we get to see the in-action video. It's no secret that Ushio and Noriko are struggling financially ... they discuss past due rent and utilities. We then learn that Ushio had once been quite popular and influential in the art world. His work has been displayed at many of the most famous museums and galleries, and Andy Warhol's pop art was inspired by Ushio's work.But this story is about much more than the roller coaster ride of an artist. It's even more about a 40 year marriage/relationship/partnership and the accompanying frustrations of one artist living in the shadow of another. We often sense the resentment coming from Noriko as she fills us in on her perspective, and we witness firsthand the challenges of living with Ushio. Home movies take us back to the early years and the destructive force of Ushio's alcoholism. When Noriko offered her assistance to the older artist and then soon became pregnant, her passion for art was shelved. All these years later, her frustrations come pouring out through a mostly autobiographical story book illustration of Cutie (Noriko) and Bullie (Ushio).We only get brief glimpses of their son Alex, but enough to see that he is also a struggling artist, and regrettably, also an alcoholic. Maybe the single biggest moment occurs when Ushio utters "the average one should support the genius". In other words, Noriko is correct when she accuses him of viewing her as a "free assistant" and a "free chef". So while Ushio says "art is messy", it's also obvious that life is every bit as messy, and that art and life offer no separation for this couple.

BasicLogic a lie that has this man maintained 80 years, a mirage that has fooled this woman for 58 years. my my my, what a pathetic story about a Japanese immigrants who have been considering themselves as artists. i couldn't help thinking when people who hate American fast food chain, they usually cursed with a sentence: "garbage in, garbage out". this is exactly what this pathetic couple who consider themselves artists. i have to add one more sentence to nail these kind of people who call themselves artists: making junk out of junk. their whole lives are just based upon an unrealistic whim, a modern day tragic fact for so many people who consider themselves with artistic talents. this old guy could not get out of his hobbit of making ugly cardboard motor bikes, punching canvas with boxing gloves to create some meaningless color dots. he just kept punching the canvas on the wall without any thinking and creativity. his so-called art is just like a spoiled brat falls in love with color paints, industrial glue or epoxy, and cardboard, the ultimate insult to art. and this woman who creates 'cutie' cartoon is also got no talent at all. their whole lives together is just a pathetic, pointless, miserable lie and a blind belief that has been fooled them so long, just like those who believe in the unseeable 3rd parties of the world, a ridiculous religion burdened them for their whole lives. the bullie is nothing but a male shauvinist pig, while cutie, the woman with long grey hair, a typical oriental woman who never got a say in her life. the most pathetic result of their lives is that they have created nothing but a lame duck like alcoholic son, a useless, hopeless good-for-nothing drunk. this family is nothing but a joke. they are just average non-talent people fooled by their own foolishness, no wonder they have to struggle their whole lives and getting nowhere. "know thyself" is the only medicine they should take.

Eric Gifford My full review: ericsgoodstuff.blogspot.com/2013/01/film-sundance-2013-cutie-and- boxer.html.I have come to a stage in life where I sometimes forget how old I am. I find that when I think about my age I have to stop a second and recheck my calculations. I'm pretty good at head math and remembering numbers but I find this one doesn't quite stick.I had an opportunity to attend the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and see Cutie and the Boxer, a documentary film by Zachary Heinzerling about Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, an aging Japanese married couple - both artists - living in New York City. As I've reflected on the film one of the most prominent thoughts that surfaces is age.Age is perhaps our most defining physical characteristic. Maybe even more than race. And just like race and ethnicity, the physical cues that point to age can be misleading. It's easy to judge someone based on how old we think they are. We look at someone and we can make a guess. As we get older some people define themselves less by their age and focus more on the way they feel. Maybe that's why I can't remember my age that well. That or I'm just getting older. In Cutie and the Boxer we see first an older couple, and then throughout the film we see more of who they really are and how they see themselves.Zachary Heinzerling's documentary Cutie and the Boxer is not a film primarily about age, although it invokes thoughts about aging. It's a film about the relationship between a husband and a wife and the sacrifices it takes to dedicate your life to someone else. Back when they first met, Ushio was already a prominent avant garde artist, having made an impact in Japan and rubbing shoulders with people like Andy Warhol in New York. He was most famous for his boxing paintings. To create these pieces of art Ushio dresses himself up very much like a boxer, including strapping on boxing gloves with sponges dipped in paint. He then energetically punches a large canvas as he moves from right to left. The experience of creating these paintings, which takes only a couple of minutes, epitomizes who Ushio is and how he sees himself as an artist. He appreciates characteristics like power, energy, spontaneity, and movement. Also famous for his motorcycle and dinosaur sculptures, he likes to name his exhibits with words like "Vroom!!" and "Roaarrr!"According to her own story, Noriko was a young and eager artist fresh off the boat. She met Ushio, over 20 years her senior, and quickly entwined her life with his, giving up her own aspirations as an artist in the process. Jump forward after a child and 39 years of marriage and we them first as any other couple, with their quirks and recurring arguments. We quickly realize that Noriko set a precedence very early on in their relationship by making significant sacrifices in her lifestyle to accommodate Ushio and his needs. Now, after four decades together, she's undergoing a retrospective of her life and breaking out as the artist she always meant to be. Ushio's career seems to be gaining new momentum as well.The film follows from there, laying out small but defining interactions between Ushio and Noriko over a two-year period. Beautifully filmed and beautifully portrayed, it splices in principal photography, archive footage covering multiple periods of their life, and the fantastical world of each of their art - especially the animation of Cutie's world. The animation is based on Noriko's comic about Cutie and the Bullie, her caricatured interpretation of herself and Ushio.During the Q&A the director was asked why he decided to call the film Cutie and the Boxer when Noriko's comic named them Cutie and the Bullie. He answered that it just sounded better to him. I think the better answer - which he probably could've answered - is that it reflects the identity each of the characters would give themselves, even though neither is completely accurate. It's how they see their idealized selves. Noriko envisions herself as Cutie, the independent female artist able to overcome and tame her love-needy but headstrong husband. Ushio sees himself as the prize fighter and artistic genius of the family, his boxing paintings as a symbol of his power and art and therefore his dominance in their relationship. The reality of how each of these identities has manifested over the years is the result we see on the screen.It's true that at first glance the film can seem to portray Ushio as uncaring, prideful, and jealous. It's an example of one of those relationships where the woman, due to the man's negligence and denial, has to take over the practical functioning of the family. But Heinzerling also hinted at something that the movie subtly tells you as you watch: that Ushio is a good and dedicated man and that he and Noriko have come to an unspoken arrangement. Ushio has a vibrant and open personality and is honest, but his love is need-based. And, although she has struggled with it for their 40+ years together, Noriko is OK with that. She might even be willing to do it all again.