Documentary

1. Cutie and the Boxer: Age, Sacrifice and Art
The complicated 40 year marriage between Ushio and Noriko Shinohara is the subject matter for
this humorous, powerful and unsentimental documentary which highlights the reality that art and
marriage are both a struggle in dedication.
When first they met Ushio, 20 years his wives senior, was an upcoming and enigmatic artist gain-
ing notoriety in his homeland of Japan and rubbing elbows in the New York art scene with the likes
of Warhol. Noriko was a young woman and aspiring artist who became enamoured with her soon
to be husband and swiftly adopted a precedent of self sacrifice to his needs.
Jump forward four decades and Ushio never attained the success, monetarily or critically that his
early career suggested. As he gears up for his latest exhibition, Noriko too begins a retrospective
exhibition of her art and finally begins to assume her artistic potential. The documentary is shot
over a two year period in this transient epoch of the ageing couples relationship.
Utilising pictures and video footage from their past and accompanied by beautiful camera work and
animation director Zachary Heinzerling weaves a compelling narrative about two larger than life
characters by restraining voice over artifice and letting the subjects connect directly with the audi-
ence.
Age
An underlying theme of the documentary is how age determines self and societal perception.
Ushio and Noriko are 80 and 60 years of age respectively. However both characters balk at the
doting pigeon hole society would resign them to.
This prompts the audience to reflect on the preconceptions they hold about the manifestations of
personality that are attributed to age and whether as we age do we continually conform to pier
pressure. Are our lifestyle decisions along the milestones of ageing a societal and self imposed
herd mentality, as much as an effect of the unavoidable physical degeneration that comes with get-
ting old?
Sacrifice
Through their relationship the documentary explores the theme of sacrifice inherent in long term
relationships. Their marriage, like so many others, is founded on an unspoken needs based ar-
rangement.
Noriko makes for a very sacrificial character in the documentary, but also has a strong personality
and in many ways is the dominant force in the relationship. The dynamics of their marriage re-
signed her artistic dreams to play second fiddle to her husbands endeavours. This is a cognisant
sacrifice and though it would have been easy to paint Ushio and an unsympathetic character, pre-
occupied with the self adoration of his artistic genius and fattening off the spoils of patriarchy he
also comes across as a caring individual with depths of love and empathy.
The pair bet on Ushio’s success and had it paid dividend the notion of Noriko’s sacrifice one could
hazard would remain muted. That said Noriko’s artistic disenfranchisement could be regarded as a
case study highlighting the sacrifices imposed on women by the patriarchal systems of western
and Japanese society that now crumbling are unleashing latent potential.
Art
At the core of the documentary is the artistic process compelling the story forward. Both Noriko
and Ushio are powerhouses of creativity, striving not only for popular recognition of their work, but
dedicated to uncovering a deeper meaning of life through creativity.

2. Noriko’s comic, based on her relationship with her husband is funny, well drawn and a tangent of
her personality.Her impressive work is bought to life through animation sequences in the documen-
tary. Noriko’s technique is one of control, as is her adopted role in the relationship.
Ushio’s famed boxing paintings, where he literally puts on oversized boxing gloves, dips them in
paint and goes to work on the canvass fits his impulsive, haphazard personality.
Have their lives together found an outlet through art or are the pair themselves a manifestation of
their art? Perhaps a little of both.