CUTIE AND THE BOXER (U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION): FILM CLIPS (VO): " Cherry Tomato" - " Clip #1" - " Clip #2" -
EX LION TAMER presents USHIO SHINOHARA and NORIKO SHINOHARA in a CINE MOSAIC Production “ CUTIE AND THE BOXER ” a Film by ZACHARY HEINZERLING 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Official Selection Director Zachary Heinzerling Executive Producers Lydia Dean Pilcher, Kiki Miyake Producers Patrick Burns, Sierra Pettengill, Zachary Heinzerling Editor David Teague Additional Editors Andy Grieve, Akiko Iwakawa Cinematography Zachary Heinzerling Composer Yasuaki Shimizu Website Photos Erik Jonsson, Patrick Burns Lookbook Design Erik Jonsson
Cutie and the Boxer directed by Zach Heinzerling, 2013 Sundance Film Festival ( U.S. Documentary Competition) Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. Photo by Erik Jonsson. SHORT SYNOPSIS A reflection on love, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this candid New York story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his artist wife, Noriko. As a rowdy, confrontational young artist in Tokyo, Ushio seemed destined for fame, but met with little commercial success after he moved to New York City in 1969, seeking international recognition. When 19-year-old Noriko moved to New York to study art, she fell in love with Ushio—abandoning her education to become the wife and assistant to an unruly, alcoholic husband. Over the course of their marriage, the roles have shifted. Now 80, Ushio struggles to establish his artistic legacy, while Noriko is at last being recognized for her own art—a series of drawings entitled “Cutie,” depicting her challenging past with Ushio. Spanning four decades, the film is a moving portrait of a couple wrestling with the eternal themes of sacrifice, disappointment and aging, against a background of lives dedicated to art.