Cutie and the Boxer

A reflection on love, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this candid New York story explores the 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 Noriko moved to New York to study art, she fell in love with Ushio. This 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.