- Like Stories We Tell, Cutie and The Boxer tries to buck genre. It just doesn’t do it as well.
- This one aims to be character-study, drama, even rom-com. At times, it succeeds. At others, it doesn’t.
- From the beginning, Director Zachary Heinzerling paints Noriko Shinohara as more sympathetic than her husband, Ushio. Heinzerling doesn’t villainize Ushio, certainly, but he does follow and define Noriko more. On the one hand, the strategy works, as it makes us care about Noriko, makes us cheer for her eventual triumph and independence.
- The strategy also hurts the film. Heinzerling seems to argue that long-suffering Noriko’s endurance has saved her marriage, even as her husband, Ushio, has unwittingly tried to destroy it for some forty years. Now, it may or may not be true that Noriko has worked harder than her husband on their marriage. The point is I don’t know, because the film never defines Ushio with the same care it defines his wife. We do not understand the husband, a fact that limits the movie’s lessons about successful long term relationships.
- Why? Because relationships are partnerships, and rarely succeed without both partners’ efforts. If I understood Ushio better, I would have better understood the Shinohara’s marriage, which in turn means the film’s lessons about lengthy relationships would have resonated with more truth.
- In other words, I wish the film had also given me Ushio’s interpretation of his marriage, both by looking at his past and by giving him opportunity to reflect on the life he’s shared with his younger bride.
- While it stumbles as an analysis of marriage, the documentary works as an ivestigation of artists’ lives. Here it is balanced, showing Ushio’s struggle with the same care it shows Noriko’s. And even offering limited perspective on their sons’ experiences. We feel the anxiety, desperation and hope that confront every artist.
- I love the way Heinzerling films Noriko and Ushio as they work. He views their efforts with tight angles and mostly stationary cameras, thereby producing intimacy that makes us feel the subjects’ raw emotion.
- I question, however, Heinzerling’s almost haphazard inclusion of Alex, the Shinoharo’s son. The first time we see him, Alex hasn’t yet been introduced and we don’t know who he is. He’s just an awkward observer who seemingly doesn’t belong in an important scene. The second time we see Alex, we hear his parents discuss his alcoholism, and the third time he shares his paintings with Noriko and us. Then he occasionally drifts in and out of the movie, never receiving much individual treatment. Because Alex is portrayed inconsistently, we do not understand him, or his emotional import to his parents.
- Many moments in Cutie and The Boxer feel contrived, like they exist only because the director asked his subjects to perform for his camera, something that is especially true of the boxing match that runs behind the end credits. These contrivances make me question, at times, whether or not the subjects’ emotion is genuine.
- In the end, Cutie and The Boxer makes many interesting observations about artists’ lifestyles, but it stumbles in its analysis of long term relationships and families. Given that the two themes are equally important to it, the latter is a significant flaw.
- Final Grade: C
Good review. I didn’t love it much either, but I definitely appreciated the story I was being told, especially since it seems like these two have a very dark, yet faithful history together.
I don’t think the story was anywhere near bad. I just think it could have been better with a bit more balance in the representation of the marriage.
I saw this last night. It was ok. I’ll post a review in a few days, but I have no desire to write about it. Guess that kind of sums it up right there. 😉
It sure does. I didn’t have any desire to write about it either.
For the life of me I cannot understand how this received the Oscar nom over Stories We Tell (which is why I think the latter the biggest Oscar snub of the year, in any category).
That and Blackfish. I don’t know what Oscar category drives me nuts more: Best Documentary Feature or Best Foreign Film. Every year something major gets snubbed.
Both are so limited in their selection processes, so those are definitely the two most maddening categories. I wish 10 of each were nominated, especially now that Best Picture gets ten nominees.
My thoughts: http://fastfilmreviews.com/2014/01/29/cutie-and-the-boxer/