The Visalia Fox Theatre’s Independent Film Series continues with “Cutie and the Boxer” at 7:30pm on Thursday, May 15. The film won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s “Best Director Award” and was a nominee for 2013 Academy Award for “Best Documentary Feature.”
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 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.
The film is presented by Stella Artois, The Arts Consortium and Williams, Brodersen & Pritchett, LLP.
For tickets ($6, $8) or more information, visit www.foxvisalia.org or call 625-1369.