THE WORLD ACCORDING TO DICK CHENEY

Filmmaker R J Cutler seems to be establishing something of a career out of making documentaries of self-centred stubborn arrogant people who have no respect for their colleagues and totally disregard their viewpoint. His last one was on Anna Wintour in 'The September Issue' and apart from her dress sense and her political views, she seems to have a lot in common with this manipulative egotistical man

I'll fess up straight away that as a dyed in the wool Democratic that my opinion about Dick Cheney is as partisan as the current crop of Republicans in the Senate, but I was fascinated to try to learn what made this man tick as he has unquestionably been the one Vice President in history who successfully carved himself a very real slice of power.

Cheney came from humble beginnings in Wyoming and managed to flunk out of Yale twice, and by the age of 21 years old had been arrested for DUI, also  twice. He married his childhood sweetheart Lynne who made him get his act together and over an extended period finally graduated from the University of Wyoming. (Not mentioned in the movie is at the time he got 6 deferments from the Draft and thus avoided fighting in the Vietnam War.)

His political rise was meteoric and on his mentor Donald Rumsfeld's coat tales went from advising the Secretary of Defense to become the youngest White House Chief of Staff when he served President Ford. Cheney & Rumsfeld featured constantly in each other's lives right up to the end of the last Bush Administration by which time their roles had reversed and Cheney was the Boss.

By the time George H. Bush was elected President, Cheney had been a Congressman for several terms and was more than happy enough resign his seat to accept the offer to become the next Secretary of Defense, when Bush's first choice John Tower could not get confirmed by the Senate.  During his tenure at Defense, Cheney oversaw the invasion of Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East, for which Bush Snr. awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

When Clinton was in the White House, Cheney scurried off to the private sector to make himself a tidy fortune, but when George W. Bush decided to run for President he enlisted Cheney to head up his Vice President search team.  Cheney put all the candidates through the wringer and demanded unprecedented medical, financial and personal records that went back years and years.  As they all fell by the wayside one by one Bush, 'persuaded' Cheney to stand, and without subject himself to the same rigorous demands or disclosing all his heart problems or his DUI charges, he accepted.  I suppose with Bush's own drinking history, the latter fact would not have been any stumbling block anyway.

The most extraordinary and scary revelation came next when it was revealed that after the Gore/Bush Election debacle when both of the would-be Presidents were distracted watching Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary Of State ensuring that Bush was the victor, Cheney was up in Washington in sole control of selecting the next Cabinet which Bush confirmed with only minor changes when he finally came back in to town.

In Cutler's film, Cheney makes neither the slightest apology or defence of the fact that as V.P. he was a very key figure in the decision to invade Iraq based on the most spurious of 'information', and that he was a (the?) major advocate of all the various torture methods.  In fact in all the lengthy interviews he did for this movie, he never hesitates in stating his view/opinion brimming over with confidence because even when the entire Cabinet sided against him (as they increasingly did in Bush Jnr's second Term) he still knew that they were ALL wrong. Even when confronted by confirmed facts that disproved his point entirely, he still calmly and unhesitatingly refused to acknowledge the truth.  He is either the best actor ever to occupy the VP 's office, or one of the biggest prevaricators the White House has ever seen (no mean feat that!). 

I think one of the (many) scary facts that you track from this profile is that Cheney total indifference to the fact that he never ever accepted responsibility or blame for any of the myriad of mistakes that the Bush Jnr Administration made. When confronted with the fiasco of the W.M.D when it was confirmed they never existed even though they has been the reason to justify the war with Iraq, Cheney simply changed 'the essence of the message'. He stated (and Bush repeated) that 'Saddam had the will and the intent to make nuclear weapons' and that was still enough justification for starting the War. Even when it spiralled out of control and civil war erupted, and insurgents started killing countless American troops, Cheney very noticeably blamed EVERYONE else for this.

This very belligerent and annoying man is a very complex character and with a wealth of parts of his story never touched on .... like his lesbian daughter's wedding and his about turn on some gay rights, or his real involvement with Scooter Libby's downfall etc. .... this should have been a mini-series and not just a 90 min. movie.  But like George W Bush at the end of his 2nd Term, I too was so really pissed with this man, that like the ex President I would also be more than happy if I never had to see him again.

Good film, but instead of taking a box of kleenex that I often encourage you take, try a box of over-ripe tomatoes as you will so want to hurl them at the screen.   This is actually a Showtimes Presentation and will be heading for the small screen in the US sometime in March.

★★★★★★★★★

LOVELACE

When Linda Boreman's father retired from the N.Y. Police Department the family moved to Davie, Florida to catch some sun. Three years later Linda also caught the wrath of her strict Catholic parents when she had a child out of wedlock which they had whisked away straight after birth and had adopted. Linda was still living at home and although she was kept on a tight leash by her parents she still managed to fall in with a rather fast crowd.  Her new good-looking beau Chuck charmed the pants of her and her parents too even though most of the time he hit the bottle hard and introduced the smitten and somewhat innocent Linda to some heavy drugs too.

Marriage to Chuck was Linda's escape route from her austere family home, but it didn't take her long to discover she was still 'trapped' as Chuck was broke and had no intention of getting a real job. He had discovered that the sexually naive Linda was a quick learner and had a natural talent for pleasuring him.  So he whisked her up to N.Y. and made her demonstrate her new talents to some very shady contacts of his so that they would offer her a movie deal to provide them with some income.

Now in this sanitised version of the true story, the movie only implies that these rather showy and loudmouthed characters are gangsters but even so we, and Chuck, know that they are not to be messed with. When the 'producers' get wind of how Chuck controls and completely bullies Linda they ensure that he is not on the set at the end of the six day shoot when she performs her special new skills.  

The movie they film in Florida, is of course 'Deep Throat' and it became the first pornographic film that crossed over to a mainstream audience and it went on to make a cool $100 million at the box office. 

It brings the newly named Linda Lovelace fame, but not fortune, and she gets to move to LA and hangout with celebrities culminating with a command performance for Hugh Hefner.  By this time Chuck's voracious appetite for booze and drugs is out of control and far exceeds the couples limited income, and so to pay for it, he pimps Linda out and forces her into prostitution.  It is the beginning of the end, especially as she is adamant she will not make another porn movie, and he is totally unable to re-pay the huge loan he got from the Mob.

The movie flashes forward 6 years and Linda is now Mrs Marchiano a regular suburban housewife who lives with her husband Larry, a cable installer, and their two children in Long Island.  She is doing the rounds of the TV Talk Shows promoting her memoir 'Outrage' which exposes the violent abuse she suffered at the hands of Chuck, and how she had now found the light and was about to start her brand new career an anti-porn campaigner.

Oscar award winning filmmaking duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have created an almost magical feel and somewhat wholesome look with their narrative on the very first porn superstar. They don't shirk from showing the despicable violence she suffered at the hands at Chuck, but somehow they make the rest of the story sunny, and funny, without dwelling on any of the sleaze a minute more than they have too.  

They were aided and abetted by a first rate sterling cast which made the whole movie zing. Amanda Seyfried shocked me into appreciating that not only can she act after all (did you catch her in Les Mis?), but she actually is damn good.  The ever wonderful Peter Sarsgaard made the slimy Chuck very much his own part. And there was an amazing supporting cast which included Chris Noth, Bobby Cannavale, Juno Temple, Chloe Sevigny, Wes Bentley, Hank Azaria, Adam Brody, Robert Patrick plus James Franco as Hugh Hefner.  The major surprise when the credits role was to discover that Linda's stern mother was played by none other than an excellent Sharon Stone.

Epstein & Friedman have created a wonderful period piece that revels in the good times of the '70's ... and a shout out here to Karyn Wagner the costume designer in particular for the stunning authentic outfits she clothed the men in.  Also to composer Stephen Trask for the music which so took me back.  

It is clearly a work of fiction re-enforced by the final statements on the screen that Linda Lovelace was only in the porn industry for 17 days (she had in fact gone on to make the ill-fated  and badly received 'Deep Throat 2') but why let too many facts spoil such a very entertaining movie?

P.S. Chuck went on to marry and 'manage' another Porn Star Icon,  Marilyn Chambers.

★★★★★★★★

THE SPECTACULAR NOW

Teenager Sutton Keely has an inexhaustible amount of confidence and good humor, and is the life and soul of the many parties that are the pivot of his very existence. He coasts along at school barely managing C- grades and makes his time in class bearable with sips from his hip flask that his is never without.

He is dating Cassidy one of the hottest looking most popular girls at school but she eventually decides that it is time to dump carefree Sutton to get a more mature beau to fit in with her heady ambitions. After Sutton sees his ex. with his replacement at a party he goes on a real bender and wakes up next morning in the middle of someones lawn without any idea how he got there or where indeed his car is. His 'saviour' is Aimee who had been driving by doing her mother's paper round.  She's a polite sweet girl who is intensely sensible and the complete opposite to Sutton, but she politely laughs at all his lame one-lines and ignores his rather inappropriate behaviour.

Compared to showy Cassidy, Aimee is something of a plan jane, but nevertheless on a whim Sutton eventually asks her out on a date.  His mates tell him that it will all end in tears as he is Aimee's first every boyfriend, and that he and this very brainy and unselfish girl have nothing in common.  They are wrong, and even though he still pines and pursues Cassidy for a while, it is very obvious that his friendship with Aimee soon blossoms into love.

As the relationship progresses and they get to know each other more, they discover under the surface they do in fact have a lot in common. Both have absent fathers and have been raised by controlling mothers, and they both cover the scars from this with jokes about it, or distort the facts to a more convenient truth.

To keep up with Sutton the innocent Aimee also frequently uses the hip flask that he gave her as a gift  and she is in real danger of becoming a lush too.  When she accompanies him on a doomed visit to his long lost father which ends in disaster, it almost costs her life too.

This is unquestionably one of the most freshest and powerful coming of age stories I have seen in a very long time.  Sutton, by no means a handsome college jock, strives hard to be popular, whilst at the same he is so troubled by being abandoned by his father, that he barely likes himself and is in danger of aping his alcoholism.  Aimee almost establishes herself as his enabler as a means to escape her own predicament of being trapped by her mother.  They both come at this relationship for all the wrong reasons, but through the pain and the heartaches of self-awareness they reach that place where they (and you) realize that it was a journey they had to make. There is a significant point at the end when someone tells Sutter that 'he's not the joke that everyone say he is ' ..... but we realised that way before then.

Directed by James Ponsoldt (last years Sundance hit 'Smashed'), brilliantly written by Scott Neustadter ('500 Days of Summer'), but the lion's share of the credit must go to the cast, especially the two frighteningly good young stars. Miles Teller ('Rabbit Hole' & 'Footloose') in his first leading role gives a fine performance as Sutton who covers every feeling up with his rapid comic humor, Shailene Woodly (who picked up a Golden Globe Nomination for playing George Clooney's oldest daughter in 'The Descendents') is a joy to behold as the quiet Aimee who realizes that she must be the one to save Sutton from himself.  And for the parents, Kyle Chandler ('Friday Night Lights') was a terrific drunk dad, and Jennifer Jason-Leigh (who I totally failed to recognise) as Sutton's controlling mother.

Its something of a welcome change to see such a fresh and contemporary approach to this rite of passage that usually ends up as a cliche-wrecked soap opera, or some Hallmark TV staple. It's refreshingly honest, unflinchingly painful and completely realistic. Sutton may have been ignoring what's ahead of him in life and focusing his efforts purely on 'the now', but I venture to suggest that this wee movie will more than certainly have an influence on the way we tell coming of age stories in the future.

Available at Amazon.

★★★★★★★★★★

QUARTET

For his directorial debut two time Oscar Winner Dustin Hoffman got himself an Oscar Winning Writer, Ronald Harwood ('The Pianist'), a veritable who's who of the cream of British actors led by two time Oscar Winner Dame Maggie Smith and yet all he could produce was a disapointing dud of a movie.  Such a waste of fine talent.

Dame Maggie, in fine fettle, is Jean Horton, a world-class Opera Diva now in her 70's and penniless, and the newest resident of Beecham House a retirement home for professional musicians who have fallen on hard times. The House is in danger of being closed .... not that you would notice anything amiss in this rather luxurious Manor House ..... and so the residents are throwing a Gala Performance to raise enough funds to keep a roof over their heads. Jean arrives just after the star performer has gone to the big stage in the sky, so the other residents try to persuade her to re-unite with old colleagues, also residents there, to re-create their famous performance of the Quartet from Rigoletto.  The trouble is she doesn't want to sing in public again now her voice is not what it was, but more importantly the tenor is her ex-husband who she hasn't spoken to for decades.

Hoffman has cast the piece really well, and playing Reggie the scorned ex is Sir Tom Courtney ('The Dresser'), Billy Connolly ('Brave') is lecherous Wilf who insists on flirting with every female in the whole place, and Cissie the ditsy fourth member of the quartet is played by the delicious Pauline Collins. ('Shirley Valentine'), Micheal Gambon  ('Harry Potter Series') plays Cedric the bossy show director, and amongst the actors there are real opera singers too, and Dame Gwyneth Jones is a sheer delight as Anne Langley who can still hit all the high notes even at her ripe old age.

It is a sweet enough inoffensive story and the music is good, but Harwood serves these great acting talents so badly with his script that can be best be described as dull.  'Exotic Marigold Hotel' it isn't ...... but then again if, like me, you would even turn up to see Dame Maggie read the phone directory, you will still want to see this.

Available now at Amazon
★★★★★★

KINK

KINK.com is the largest producer of online BDSM porn movies in the USA and was started by Peter Ackworth, a fellow Brit, from his Dorm Room at school in 1997. Based in an enormous defunct Armory Building in San Francisco with many of the original facilities untouched as they make prefect sets for a lot of the perverse activity that now fills the building.  

Kink produce movies for the 30 odd different sites they now operate and they cover the whole Bondage  and Sado Masochism spectrum from slave training, rope bondage, femdom, gay public Sex, bondage gangbang, female domination, submissive women, lesbian bondage,  shemales, naked wrestling, pissing,  and sex machines etc etc.  And in this no holds barred documentary you get to witness several of the extreme films being made .... I hope the participants were acting in part at least because what they allowed their bodies to be subjected too looked awfully painful from where I was sitting.

Filmmaker Christina Voros set out to go behind the mystique of the industry and as she is being shown around the building there is a hilarious scene where she cannot make herself heard above the din coming from the other end of the floor ... Peter Ackworth explains there is an orgy underway .... not something you hear every day. She interviews several of the directors who, with the odd exception, are very matter of fact about their work and how they want to simply be the best in their genre.  Occasional one will try to intellectualise what they are about, but when they tried to align this to an art form, they get twisted up in more knots than the models on set.

There is also something rather wholesome about the big family atmosphere that permeates throughout the whole company  .... and is rather fascinating to watch the directors and management have their monthly meeting to discuss their success. Why they ask have the ratings for 'Divine Bitches' soared whilst 'Electo Sluts' is on the decline?  Why indeed, but evidently there are fashions and trends that must be watched even in the sex industry.

The fly on the wall approached worked well and Ms Voros allowed us to witness it all without narration and more importantly, without judgement. Was it shocking? In parts, yes but not the graphic sex but more the aggressive bondage parts in particular.  Did I learn anything?  Well, yes .... thanks to a Dominatrix I know how to stand on an erect penis in stiletto heels without causing any pain. Was it entertaining?  To an extent, but it is essentially one big Advertorial for the Kink sites, which lessens its impact and certainly its importance as a general essay on the S + M industry. Would I recommend it?  Certainly if you want to be reminded how boring your own sex life really is.  The trouble is, I cannot see it coming to a big ..... or a small .... screen you in the near future.

One of my favorite anecdotes was when one of the models had just finished a very intensive hardcore slave/submission movie and dressed in his white terry robe he walked into the main office and was politely asked how his scene had gone.  He replied very matter-of-fact 'I got fucked good'.  And there you have it.

P.S. The movie was produced by James Franco ... now I'm wondering which of the Kink sites is his favorite.

★★★★★★★

INTERIOR LEATHER BAR

Director William Friedkin claims that he had to take his notorious movie 'Cruising' about the gay S&M sub-culture to the Ratings Board on 50 occasions before they would give him a R.  Whether that is totally true or not is part of the myth around the over-rated but little seen psychological thriller released in 1980 to great controversy. The gay community were its fiercest detractors, but the critics slammed it too.

To appease the censors Friedkin was forced to cut 44 minutes of what one assumes from his inference were graphic sexual acts. We will never be sure and gay filmmaker Travis Mathews and James Franco never bothered to check with Friedkin when they set about trying to re-imagine what the footage may or may not have contained to make this curious new documentary.

Hetrosexual Franco has a growing reputation for his limitless fixation with gay culture and he used his celebrity to pull this very spurious event together.  On a day and a half, he and Travis gathered together a bunch of actors .... some gay and some straight  ... stuck them in a warehouse with a script treatment and told them very vaguely to simply get on with it.  Franco himself copped out of recreating the main role played by Al Pacino in the original movie and instead persuaded Val Lauren (who has just starred in Franco's directorial debut 'Sal', about yet another gay figure Sal Mineo). Lauren was either alarmingly nervous about playing gay, even for pay, or just following a script .... we never really knew.  But he was uncomfortable to watch, and like others, annoying  kept repeating that he had only agreed to the project cos of James!

The gay members of the cast had joked that they had only agreed to take part in the hope of seeing Franco naked, but that wasn't going to happen.  He pontificated excessively before the shoot intellectualising about sex, but on the day itself he part filmed a scene where a couple of guys are going full at it, before totally disappearing.  Incidentally most of the hour long running time is taken up with all the behind the scenes angst than the actual 'missing footage'.

This is not the first vanity project by Franco .... he make an experimental film from scraps that Gus Van Sant cut from 'My Private Idaho' .... and the main question I can only raise about his intentions with all of this, and the making of this film is, WHY?

Trust me it would never even made Sundance or been the subject of such debate if Franco had not been involved, and frankly its simply not enough reason to actually bother watching it, amusing as it is in parts. Not that you will probably have much of a chance anyway, as after it plays a few Festivals, I think it will probably disappear without a trace.

Available on Amazon
★★★★★★

ANY DAY NOW

The year is 1979 and in a sleazy West Hollywood gay bar, Rudy a very scary looking drag queen, is lip-syncing to a disco hit 'Come to Me' and he catches the eye of a handsome masculine and very straight dude sitting by himself. Paul is a divorced closeted uptight lawyer who works in the D.A.'s office. They couldn't be more different, but opposites attract and often make for the best relationship, and it turned out to be love at first sight.

Rudy lives down the hall from Marianna a drug-addicted hooker and her son Marco, and after she is arrested one night, Rudy takes care of the kid.  Soon Social Services come knocking, but by then Rudy has taken a shine to the 14 year old Downs Syndrome kid and he decides to try and keep him in his care.

Rudy appeals to Paul for legal advice and help, and as well as giving him that, he asks Rudy and Marco to move in with him.  They visit Marianna in jail to get her to legally sign over Marco on a temporary basis, but once everyone susses out that the two men are not 'cousins' as they claim but a gay couple, they lose Marco, and Paul also loses his job.

The more homophobia the couple encounter the more outraged and determined they get to ensure that the fight is about what is best for Marco  i.e. the loving environment they have established and in which he has flourished in.  Rudy is loud-mouthed, impatient, and passionate and he eggs Paul on to unleash his seething sense of injustice so that even with their different temperaments, they are totally on the same page.

It is based on a true story, and reminds you (yet once again) when Courts thought that anyone/thing at all would be better than having a child growing up with gay parents.  Several decades later here in Florida, nothing has changed and the Law will  still not allow us to adopt : the State would prefer that children be totally miserable and dejected in Institutions rather than ever be exposed to gay people.

Riveting performances by Alan Cummings and Garret Dillahunt as Rudy and Paul, and a shout out to young Isaac Leyva who is so excellent as Marco.  

The movie also had some of the worst wigs I have seen in a very long time which was very distracting ..... and did we really wear clothes that bad back then?  Despite that, it's a delightful small film with a very big heart.  Take a box of Kleenex as they don't all live happily ever after in this tear jerker.

Available from Amazon

★★★★★★★★

VALENTINE ROAD

On February 12th 2008 in E.O High School in Oxnard, a sleepy Californian beach town, one very troubled teenager took his anger out on one of his classmates and shot him in the back of the head twice at point blank.  It was the middle of the day and the class were all together in the school’s computer lab to do an assignment on tolerance.  A lesson that was too little and too late to save the life of 15 year old Larry King who died two days later on Valentines Day.

Multi-racial Larry had recently started to openly explore his gender identity, and had taken to wearing lipstick and high-heeled shoes to school.  A product of a broken home, he was living in a Shelter for abused and neglected kids, and from all accounts was both happy and popular.  Brandon McInerney, the gunman, was a tough white kid who also had a troubled home life.  His abusive father had at one time actually shot his mother, and as she was a recovering addict, was absent from Brandon’s life for long stretches. (In an interview she admitted that Brandon called her just minutes before he shot Larry, but she never bothered to answer the phone).

Things had come to ahead when Larry, following a school tradition, had approached Brandon when he was with his mates and asked him outright if he would be his Valentine.  It evidently pushed this homophobic boy over the edge, and in fact this so-called ‘gay taunting’ became the main defense strategy when Brandon was later charged with Larry’s murder.

First time director Marta Cunningham followed the case when the lengthy legal proceedings started. Maeve Fox the passionate and articulate Prosecutor was determined that not only would this boy, who had just turned 14 years old, be tried as a adult, but she would add hate crime charges to the sheet as well.

His equally passionate Pro-Bono Defense Lawyers bitterly contested the motion of Brandon being tried as an adult, and in a series of legal maneuvers, managed to delay the Trial for some years. When they ran out of options, the Trial proceeded and to the horror of Larry’s friends and the Authorities, they succeeded in getting a hung verdict from the Jury resulting in a mistrial.

Ms. Cunningham included interviews with some of the jury members who made no attempt to disguise their bias to say that they not only believed that Brandon should have been freed, but they spoke at lengths on how his life would be ruined for ever by this tragic incident. In their eyes Brandon was a helpless victim, and there not a thought or mention of the poor dead teenager. Naturally there was no hint that it was because Larry was both biracial and transgender, and in fact these same upstanding members of the community had even trumped up excuses to account for the fact they readily dismissed all the strong evidence that Brandon was into White Supremacy.

Some horrendous hate crime stories such as Matthew Shepherds grab the public’s attention in such a way they even affect some change in attitude, which hopefully will save the lives of other kids who are ‘different’.  Larry King’s story didn’t get the attention it deserved at the time, and this excellent movie will hopefully provoke the continuing dialogue that we need about tolerance in our schools and our lives.

Asides from the tragic loss of Larry’s young life, two other aspects of the story gave me cause for concern. Firstly the Principal summarily dismissed Dawn Boldrin his eight-grade teacher, who was sympatric to Larry questioning his gender and was on duty when the shooting took place, very soon afterwards.  More importantly, I was so shocked to really appreciate how careful selection of a jury can easily manipulate the course of justice.  The very biased and bigoted jurors in this case not only went public with their opinions but took the unprecedented of actually starting to raise funds for Brandon’s defense when there was talk of a 2nd trial.

Brandon eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and is serving a 21-year prison sentence.

This powerful account of this tragic incident is a remarkable debut from a newbie director who through her interviewees …. Larry’s friends, Brandon’s family and the Authorities etc. lets the story unravel quite naturally. It is skillfully edited so that it never loses the momentum, and the passion and emotion came from all their words without comment from her.

It was one of the very best documentaries shown at Sundance this year, and one that moved me deeply, so I cannot give it anything less than the highest rating. The good news that it is an HBO production and will be out on DVD soon.  Be sure to have a full box of kleenex handy

P.S. One sad/light moment in the story.  Immediately after the shooting the school went into lockdown until the Police arrived.  One of the first things they did was to take the remaining children out of the computer lab and put them into a closed classroom so the could start to recover from the bloody sight they had just witnessed.  They popped a DVD on for the kids to help calm them down. It was the movie Jaws!

Now available at Amazon

★★★★★★★★★★

Trailer VALENTINE ROAD from Skeive Filmer on Vimeo.

CUTIE AND THE BOXER

Ushio Shinohara was a leading light in the avant garde art scene in post war Japan who in 1969 headed out to New York in 1969 to seek his (international) fame and fortune.  He quickly established himself in the burgeoning artist colony in Sotho for both his art and his limitless capacity to drink.  Three years later, 19 year old Noriko left Japan to come to New York to study, and was instantly smitten with Ushio and his work.  So much so, to her the chagrin of her wealthy family back in Tokyo, she abandoned her studies and married this eccentric middle-aged alcoholic artist, and within a year she gave birth to their son Alex. 

This totally mesmerizing documentary from first time director Zachary Heinzerling chronicles the 40-year-old chaotic and roller coaster marriage of these two artists, in which we witness recent developments as finally this relationship becomes a little less lopsided. Ushio was unquestionably both an artistic genius, but also a chauvinistic bully who through a combination of his binge drinking and his domineering overbearing manner ensured that Noriko spent the first half of their marriage suppressing any of her own artistic ambitions in order to raise their son and keep food on the table.

The film opens with Ushio’s 80^th Birthday and on the eve of a One Man Show he has coming up in a prestigious Soho Gallery.  The couple are once again completely broke, but it is Noriko who has to worry about how they are going to pay the rent of their Brooklyn Studio, whilst Ushio just immerses himself in preparing pieces for the exhibition.  His art is two fold.  He makes elaborate and somewhat unwieldy sculptures of motorbikes out of a variety of scrap materials, and he also does these incredibly wonderful large-scale paintings by punching a canvass using boxing gloves to which he attaches pads full of paint.

The Show is not a success as nothing sells, but soon after that he is approached to do another show at different gallery, and when owner comes by to check out Ushio’s latest work, Noriko insists on showing hers to him too.  She has recently started painting again and has created a whole series/story of graphic pieces, which are based on her life with Ushio and entitled ‘Cutie and The Boxer’.  The Gallerist loves the work, and offers Noriko half of the Show to exhibit it

Suddenly the dynamics of the relationship start to shift, and even though Noriko has always been a generous supporter of her husband’s work (and often acts his dog body much abused assistant) he cannot return the compliment on his wife’s work. The most remarkable thing about the ‘Cutie’ series although it chronicles aspects of her difficult and challenging past with Ushio and is about asserting female power, it is actually filled with genuine and love and affection. It’s a reflection on how this remarkable woman describes her relationship with Ushio, as despite all the sacrifices she was forced to make and all of the disappointments he made her endure, and all of his annoying ways, she still loves him unequivocably.

It’s a joyous wee film about a couple of enchanting unique people who have somehow, after a turbulent four decades, and a son who seems to have taken over from his now sober father, come through and with such joy.  By the end of the journey we get to celebrate the emergence of Noriko as both an artist and a person in her own right as she starts to (unintentionally) steal both the Show and her hearts too.

P.S. There is a glorious funny scene in the movie when Ushio’s Dealer had brought a Guggenheim Curator to the studio with the idea of buying a piece of work for the Museum.  It’s a very comic reminder of what pretentious claptrap some people somehow feel the need to espouse about work they obviously think they should like.  After all the bullshit, they never bought a piece.

P.P.S. I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at Sundance where it had its premiere (it went on to be nominated for an Oscar).  What I missed however was another later screening which a Q&A with Ushiro and Noriko followed.  Evidently the biggest laugh came when Ushiro was made to acknowledge that just this once at least, Noriko was the real star.

Available from Amazon

★★★★★★★★★★