{"product_id":"bye-bye-love","title":"Bye Bye Love","description":"\u003cp\u003eLost and nihilistic drifter Utamaro chances upon Giko, a female-presenting shoplifter who immediately catches his eye. One thing leads to another and the couple soon find themselves on the lam for murder. This provides for a delightful pretext to explore notions of societal malaise, free love and gender fluidity in a rapidly evolving 1970s Japan, as both Utamaro and Giko begin to know each other on the road by way of a variety of encounters, alternating between surrealistic, psychedelic and sexual.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sole feature film directed by Isao Fujisawa, who learned his craft as an assistant director to Hiroshi Teshigahara on New Wave classics such as Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another, Bye Bye Love is a deeply personal reckoning with sexual identity. Bridging the distance between Pierrot le fou, Bonnie and Clyde and Funeral Parade of Roses with an impeccable sense of style, splashes of Godardian color as well as strong anti-imperialist and existentialist themes, this iconic jishu eiga (self-produced film) was long thought lost until recently shepherded towards restoration by director and programmer Akihiro Suzuki. A new landmark of Japanese queer cinema, it is now distributed in North America for the very first time in 50 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Anticipates the transgressive New Queer Cinema movies of Gregg Araki and Gus Van Sant...” — Luke Goodsell, Metrograph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A veritable unicorn fossil unearthed from the Pleistocene bogland of 1974 and spit-shined for our retro-retro delectation… Bye Bye Love is pure snot-nosed anti-establishment indie heaven...” — Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Presciently offers an accomplished representation of queer love and genderfluid identity nailing both ends of the trans experience: the reassuring euphoria when gender identity and presentation align and the thorny, insidious envy of cisgender people.\" — Ren Scateni, BFMAF\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"Shunzo (Bengal) and his wife Michi (Masako Motai) run a beloved greengrocer on the outskirts of Tokyo. When Lee, a struggling exchange student from China, visits the shop but is unable to afford the produce, an uneasy relationship sprouts. Begrudgingly, Shunzo agrees to lower his prices. Soon, Lee’s classmates begin frequenting the shop. As Shunzo’s generosity sneaks up on him and strains his family’s welfare, he confronts his role as surrogate father to his newfound Chinese friends.\\n\\n\\nShot between May - July of 1989 and addressing the historically charged notion of a Sino-Japanese friendship, this lesser-seen masterpiece from director Nobuhiko Obayashi (House) chronicles the end of a decade marked by the Japanese economic bubble and the brutal close of possibility in China. A delicate elegy to the Chinese students of its time, Beijing Watermelon finds Obayashi at his most modern, channeling the style of Yasujiro Ozu, while his experimental flourishes provide the perfect disruption, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks of history.\\n\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":4993,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"10\":2,\"11\":4,\"12\":0,\"15\":\"Arial\"}'\u003edirected by: Isao Fujisawa\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"Shunzo (Bengal) and his wife Michi (Masako Motai) run a beloved greengrocer on the outskirts of Tokyo. When Lee, a struggling exchange student from China, visits the shop but is unable to afford the produce, an uneasy relationship sprouts. Begrudgingly, Shunzo agrees to lower his prices. Soon, Lee’s classmates begin frequenting the shop. As Shunzo’s generosity sneaks up on him and strains his family’s welfare, he confronts his role as surrogate father to his newfound Chinese friends.\\n\\n\\nShot between May - July of 1989 and addressing the historically charged notion of a Sino-Japanese friendship, this lesser-seen masterpiece from director Nobuhiko Obayashi (House) chronicles the end of a decade marked by the Japanese economic bubble and the brutal close of possibility in China. A delicate elegy to the Chinese students of its time, Beijing Watermelon finds Obayashi at his most modern, channeling the style of Yasujiro Ozu, while his experimental flourishes provide the perfect disruption, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks of history.\\n\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":4993,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"10\":2,\"11\":4,\"12\":0,\"15\":\"Arial\"}'\u003e\u003cbr\u003estarring: Ren Tamura, Miyagi Ichijo, Puzo Morita, Atsuko Ami, Satomi Oki, Enver Altenbay\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"Shunzo (Bengal) and his wife Michi (Masako Motai) run a beloved greengrocer on the outskirts of Tokyo. When Lee, a struggling exchange student from China, visits the shop but is unable to afford the produce, an uneasy relationship sprouts. Begrudgingly, Shunzo agrees to lower his prices. Soon, Lee’s classmates begin frequenting the shop. As Shunzo’s generosity sneaks up on him and strains his family’s welfare, he confronts his role as surrogate father to his newfound Chinese friends.\\n\\n\\nShot between May - July of 1989 and addressing the historically charged notion of a Sino-Japanese friendship, this lesser-seen masterpiece from director Nobuhiko Obayashi (House) chronicles the end of a decade marked by the Japanese economic bubble and the brutal close of possibility in China. A delicate elegy to the Chinese students of its time, Beijing Watermelon finds Obayashi at his most modern, channeling the style of Yasujiro Ozu, while his experimental flourishes provide the perfect disruption, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks of history.\\n\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":4993,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"10\":2,\"11\":4,\"12\":0,\"15\":\"Arial\"}'\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1974 \/ 85 min \/ 1.85:1 \/ Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan data-sheets-root=\"1\" data-sheets-value='{\"1\":2,\"2\":\"Shunzo (Bengal) and his wife Michi (Masako Motai) run a beloved greengrocer on the outskirts of Tokyo. When Lee, a struggling exchange student from China, visits the shop but is unable to afford the produce, an uneasy relationship sprouts. Begrudgingly, Shunzo agrees to lower his prices. Soon, Lee’s classmates begin frequenting the shop. As Shunzo’s generosity sneaks up on him and strains his family’s welfare, he confronts his role as surrogate father to his newfound Chinese friends.\\n\\n\\nShot between May - July of 1989 and addressing the historically charged notion of a Sino-Japanese friendship, this lesser-seen masterpiece from director Nobuhiko Obayashi (House) chronicles the end of a decade marked by the Japanese economic bubble and the brutal close of possibility in China. A delicate elegy to the Chinese students of its time, Beijing Watermelon finds Obayashi at his most modern, channeling the style of Yasujiro Ozu, while his experimental flourishes provide the perfect disruption, inviting viewers to fill in the blanks of history.\\n\"}' data-sheets-userformat='{\"2\":4993,\"3\":{\"1\":0},\"10\":2,\"11\":4,\"12\":0,\"15\":\"Arial\"}'\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tWPsvL5cXqE?si=dd5pbm2k7CdWKjop\" title=\"YouTube video player\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kani","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46096324886700,"sku":"1-1-3","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0650\/9631\/9148\/files\/Bye_Bye_Love_LTD_Front_2500x_d18f90a6-0241-425f-a063-0700b0da3a36.webp?v=1774992408","url":"https:\/\/monstermaul.com\/products\/bye-bye-love","provider":"Monster Maul","version":"1.0","type":"link"}