#CutieBoxer

[crispyluc]

I WANT TO SEE THE UNCUT CUTIE PIE EPISODES FROM THE CUTIEBOX BUT I'M POOR 😭😭

[mediadesignspring2019]

[mediadesignspring2018]

For me what was most striking about Cutie and the Boxer was how the style of the film mirrored the two artists in tone and scope; they are both candid and brutally honest in their art and perspective.  The filmmakers captured immensely intimate moments, simply by keeping the focus on their subjects, by documenting the emotions on their faces.  I also loved the look of the film, the way many shots are soft focus, and the portraiture of the scenes where the audience sees Ushio and Noriko make art. 

[mediadesignspring2019]

Types of footages:

Performance art telling the process of Boxer’s action painting

Found footages: old videos and old still photos

Documentaries

Narratives

B-rolls

Animation using Cutie’s artwork

Story-telling Techniques:

Recreations 

Talking heads

Observational camera

Drawings/Animation

[mediadesignspring2019]

Overall, I really like how the characters are naturally captured in their surroundings. I really found the camera movements very interesting and how freely it was moving. The creators of the film have really explored with the camera angles, movement, extreme close ups and framing. Lastly, I liked the intersperse of current and past footage along with the animated illustration. 

[mediadesignspring2019]

1-Long single shot opening scene with motion graphics

2-Vintage documentary footage

3-Landscape/Location shot

4-Animated sequence

5-Vintage home video footage

6-Historical video footage 

7- Personal photographs

8- Slow motion closing sequence with credits

Storytelling Techniques: Unlike most documentaries, there are no real interviews done for the movie nor is there any voiceover narration. The story is told via vintage found footage, personal photos & video, animated sequences and by simply using the camera to document conversations and daily life as they happen naturally (in theory at least).

[mediadesignspring2019]

[mediadesignspring2019]

Types of footages:

01. Documented footage

02. Historical footage

03. Home video (could be historical footage as well)

04. Interview

05. Location view

06. Illustrator

07. Old picture

08. Thematic shot

Storytelling techniques:

Narration; Flashback; Personal biography

[mediadesignspring2019]

Cutie and the Boxer

When I watched the trailer for Cutie and the Boxer, I thought I was about to watch a sweet, sentimental, presentational, mostly visual documentary presenting art and a seemingly happy couple. Instead, this documentary broke my heart. It used home video footage, illustration, as well as minimal interview-style dialogue to unravel a truly problematic partnership. Though both Uriko and Ushio’s art and time in the studio were shown, they were never shown without moving along the story of their relationship. What struck me most was the use of found home video footage, particularly when Noriko explained her regret that their son was raised around drunk adults, and it cut to him taking a bath while his father got wasted. Who was filming?? I also of course enjoyed the coy presentation of Noriko’s illustration, which seemed possibly inspired by her own life at first, then clearly it was revealed that it was totally autobiographical, and Ushio was certainly Bullie. I also enjoyed the use of silence, and watching day-to-day activities, especially when focused on Noriko (doing dishes, painting in silence, making coffee) and then contrasted with Ushio (slamming buckets of water out the window, brushing his teeth maniacally, and of course, box-painting.  

[mediadesignspring2018]

Cutie and the Boxer is a beautiful love story. I like how it kind of told the story from two different lives and brought them together at the end. It’s interesting how towards the end of the film, we learn more about Noriko the artist instead of Noriko the wife. Kind of mirrored the evolution of their relationship.

Footage types:

Interview (direct and interview)

Archival/News footage

B-roll of course

[mediadesignspring2018]

Indeed, Cutie and The Boxer is a charming and strangely romantic film. Instead of plucking low-hanging sentimentality (no doubt the kind of “zen whatever” and conceptual crap Ushio would disdain) Cutie and The Boxer paints a portrait of resentment and passion, capturing what makes a great love story without telling it.

Although some snippets of history are spliced in here and there, the movie exists in the moment, giving the personal anecdotes a reminiscent and reflective quality. The old footage functions to support both the pleasure and pain in the lives of these two artists. In the past, we see a couple together but a family divided. The stench of alcohol is rubbed through the years like a discarded bar napkin. Despite the problems, poverty and punches---they are still in the same apartment, doing the same things, eating cheap but delicious fish and living the lives that they’ve made for themselves and each other. My enjoyment for Ushio and Noriko never wavered, even when I found myself cringing at the obnoxious air of the art dealers fussing about in an early scene. No matter, the couple kept on going, focused on art and each other. As Ushio recognizes, there are other tumultuous artist couples before them, and there will certainly be more to follow. Yet what we see here is the couple not living out on the stretches of Long Island like Pollack and Krasner, but in their New York loft, struggling to get by, where their adult son roams in and out, each person exposing themselves on canvas or paper (or drunk in the kitchen) emotions released like an athlete and a woman with grey pigtails finally coming into her own. Yes, they’re bound by decades together, but Noriko’s independence has come at long last from her experiences being with Ushio, raising a child and peeking out from another artist’s shadow. Nonetheless, the boxer met his match years ago, and perhaps finally, she has come out as the champ.

[mediadesignspring2018]

Cutie and the Boxer very beautifully depicts the weight and consequence of artistic passion on a relationship and family over time. Through sit down interviews, old photos, and b-roll, the story unfolds cleverly through Noriko’s illustrations. Her drawings serve as a narrator of sorts, and eventually evolve into animation. While Ushio is seemingly the star of this duo, I love that the focus is really on Noriko as she eventually steers the narrative at the close of the film. In the drawings, Cutie is a character, just like Noriko is a character in the film - each playing their own specific role, as wife, mother, artist. In telling her story through art and then through the film, we ultimately see Noriko transform - on the page, on film, and in life, just like her drawings.

In terms of storytelling, there’s great attention to detail and intimacy in each moment. The camera follows each character closely, often zooming in on each artist’s face as well as their work. From the opening scene throughout the film, there’s also a painterly sense of the footage in the framing of the shots and the bold colors the camera captures. The film is of course about art but it also presents a certain kind of visual/graphic sensibility that so aptly matches the subject matter. We feel the passion and care Ushio and Noriko both have for their work in the filmmaker’s attention to every moment, detail, and color.

The film invites us to explore Ushio and Noriko’s histories as well as the tension and love that has grown between them over the years. The result is a powerful memoir in motion - a loving portrait of the give and take of any relationship, and the sacrifices one must make for art, love, family, and career.

[mediadesignspring2019]

When I watched the trailer for Cutie and the Boxer, I thought I was about to watch a sweet, sentimental, presentational, mostly visual documentary presenting art and a seemingly happy couple. Instead, this documentary broke my heart. It used home video footage, illustration, as well as minimal interview-style dialogue to unravel a truly problematic partnership. Though both Uriko and Ushio’s art and time in the studio were shown, they were never shown without moving along the story of their relationship. What struck me most was the use of found home video footage (#3), particularly when Noriko explained her regret that their son was raised around drunk adults, and it cut to him taking a bath while his father got wasted. Who was filming?? I also of course enjoyed the coy presentation of Noriko’s illustration (#4), which seemed possibly inspired by her own life at first, then clearly it was revealed that it was totally autobiographical, and Ushio was certainly Bullie. I also enjoyed the use of silence, and watching day-to-day activities, especially when focused on Noriko (doing dishes, painting in silence, making coffee #1 & #5) and then contrasted with Ushio (slamming buckets of water out the window, brushing his teeth maniacally (#2,) and of course, box-painting.