Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by: Zachary Heinzerling

2013 | USA | 82 min | R

“Cutie and the Boxer is the story of an extraordinary marriage bound together by artistic impulse. The movie opens on the morning of the 80th birthday of Ushio Shinohara, the Japanese artist best known for his impressionistic boxing paintings — huge canvases he punched with gloves dipped in brightly colored paint. For the occasion, his wife Noriko has bought him a pair of cushy slippers shaped like ducks. They sit down to have cake. Ushio gobbles the sweet and gets frosting on his face. Noriko tells him to wipe it off but he ignores her. ‘I don’t listen to you,’ he tells her. ‘That is how I stay young.’ With that exchange, director Zachary Heinzerling, establishes the tone of their marriage—combative, competitive, embattled yet strangely affectionate.” Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald.

Nominated Best Documentary, Academy Awards, 2014