Cutie And The Boxeris up for best documentary feature alongside The Act Of Killing and Dirty Wars at this year's Oscars. Focusing on the relationship between two Japanese artists, it’s a beautifully honest portrayal of the pits and falls of a relationship. Handily, it’s also on telly tonight if you fancy watching it. We spoke to director Zachary Heinzerling about the film and another recent job – casually making a documentary for Beyonce….
The Debrief: Can you tell us a bit about Cutie and the Boxer*?*
Zachary Heinzerling: It’s about these two Japanese artists, Ushio and Noriko Shinohara and it’s set in present day Brooklyn. Ushio is more famous than his wife. Noriko’s always been his assistant manager and seen him through thick and thin. She’s also an artist that put her aspirations on hold to take care of her husband and their son. The film picks up when Noriko is starting to get some recognition and there’s a role reversal that’s happening between the two.
DB: What’s the dynamic between the two?
ZH: They have the old married couple bickering thing. She’s always lambasting Ushio for his laziness and his inability to take care of himself. He’s sort of abused Noriko’s kindness and been self centered for most of their relationship. But the fact remains that they’re still are together.
DB: Congratulations on the Oscar nomination – how did you find out?!
ZH: They do the live stream on the website. I was in my room and it was very early in the morning and [I found out] as they were reading the nominations. It was so surreal, I actually didn’t believe it. I thought it was a mistake and that something had gone wrong. So my first reaction was one of shock, then I called my producer Lydia Dean Pilcher to sort of make it official, and then the rest of the day was spent answering phone calls and texting people back. It’s been really great for the Shinoharas, too. The Japanese public have been really excited that a film about two Japanese artists has been nominated.
DB: Are they going to go?
ZH: Yeah! Ushio has a tuxedo that he got 60 years ago when he sold his first painting in Japan that still fits him perfectly. Noriko’s got a really funky interesting dress that’ll marry with her quirky vibe quite well and make for something to look at on the red carpet!
DB: After that you worked on Self-Titled – a series of films explaining the release of the Beyonce album – how did that come about?
ZH: A producer that did one of her music videos is a friend of mine and they were looking for someone to come up with a series that would explain the release of the album. Beyonce decided she wasn’t going to do any press – obviously because she wanted to keep the whole thing secret – so these videos that we made were her statement to the public about the album and how it was released and what it was about. It was mostly based on one long interview, and then the footage comes from almost two years of her recording and making all these 17 videos.
DB: How the hell did you keep it a secret?
ZH: The secret part was kind of fun. Obviously everyone signed non-disclosure agreements and we did all of the work out of her office where her entire staff were, so there was no chance that any of the media would get lost or taken from one office to the other. Everyone involved was in it together in the interest of pulling it off this incredible feat, and I think that they way she released it was really brilliant. The fact that, still, on the night of the release people were guessing that the album would come out in 2014 and we were laughing, like, ‘Noooo!’ It was really kind of incredible.
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Picture: Getty
Storyville: Cutie And The Boxer - Married And Still Fighting is on BBC Four tonight at 10:30
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.