Cutie and the Boxer is a 2013 American documentary film on DVD produced, shot, and directed by Zachary Heinzerling. The film focuses on the chaotic 40-year marriage of the boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko.
Love. Sacrifice. Survival. Art is a demon that can take over your life.
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 recognised for her own art—a series of drawings entitled “Cutie,” depicting her challenging past with Ushio. Spanning four decades, CUTIE AND THE BOXER 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.
Cutie and the Boxer Documentary Movie Reviews
“It's a touching film and a fascinating glimpse into one of those couples you can't quite believe are still together.” Time Out
For all of the eccentricities that come in any telling of an artist's life, Cutie and the Boxer's real magic is in so beautifully telling a familiar story of husbands and wives. Los Angeles Times
More than anything, the film expresses – at an almost subconscious level – the difficulties of discerning not only what real art is, but also what true love is all about. Toronto Star
Although Cutie and the Boxer is one of the most unsentimental and unstinting portraits of marriage ever brought to the screen, there’s considerable hopefulness and love in it, and it illustrates the adage that whatever you can survive will ultimately make you stronger. Salon.com