Available on DVD from Mon 27 Jan

Zachary Heinzerling / USA / 2013 / 82 mins

There is much talk of artists suffering for their work, but it’s probably fair to say Noriko Shinohara has surrendered more than most. Cutie and the Boxer is the tale of her 40-year marriage to Ushio Shinohara, but more than that it offers a charmingly understated meditation on sacrifices made in the name of passion.

Ushio Shinohara first came to prominence in the 1960s as a “Neo-Dadaist Organiser”, most famous for his unique combination of boxing and painting. Noriko came to New York as a 19-year-old art student and quickly fell in love with the charismatic Shinohara despite the twenty year age gap, ultimately abandoning her own artistic ambitions to assist her husband.

It seems to have been a largely thankless role, as Ushio appears as an unrepentingly self-absorbed alcoholic who shows little regard for his wife’s artistic talent. Furthermore, Shinohara’s critical acclaim has never translated into commercial success so the marriage has been further strained by financial instability.

Given the circumstances, Noriko could be forgiven for being a martyr. Yet as she prepares for an exhibition which she hopes will finally establish her as an artist in her own right, there is a sense of great serenity and inner strength. It is obvious that Noriko is the heart of both her family and Zachary Heinzerling’s documentary as she bears her husband’s alternate egotism and dismissiveness with wry humour and bemusement.

If much of the force of Heinzerling’s film comes from Noriko’s warmth, this is further strengthened by what is left unsaid. There is no narration and much of the back story comes from period films of Ushio in his heyday and Noriko’s semi-autobiographical artwork.  “You throw yourself away to be an artist” wails a drunken young Ushio at one point. It all adds up to a wonderfully nuanced reminder of the beauty and pain of the human experience, particularly when love and creativity are in play.