Bye Bye Love
Southeast Asian Premiere
Isao Fujisawa Japan 1974 87 min R21 (Sexual Scenes and Homosexual Content)
This film is a queer reimagining of Bonnie and Clyde, set against the backdrop of 1970s countercultural Japan.
When loud-mouthed nihilist Utamaro encounters Giiko, a charismatic genderfluid individual on the streets, their fates intertwine as star-crossed lovers in the mould of Bonnie and Clyde set in 1970s Japan. Trouble soon follows the maverick couple, as a succession of mischievous acts in their wake culminates in the murder of Giiko’s lover, an American embassy worker. Breaking free from the suffocating uniformity of the city’s monotonous tower blocks, the lovers speed towards the countryside in a stolen convertible, riding towards the setting sun.
Shot guerrilla-style with amateur actors, this New Wave treasure channels jishu eiga (self-made) spirit in its purest form. The freewheeling couple’s frenetic escapade becomes a space for radical queer experimentation, pushing against society’s heteronormative conventions. Bye Bye Love is an elegy to a generation of youth filled with anti-imperialist sentiment and rage against conformity – a fever dream capturing the dying embers of rebellion.
Synopsis Writer: Gabriel Goh
Q&A with Filmmaker(s)
28 Nov, Fri 4:30PM / 87 min
Oldham Theatre
AT THE FEST!
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Bye Bye Love
バイバイ・ラブ
Isao Fujisawa
Japan
1974
Japanese
English
87 min
R21 (Sexual Scenes and Homosexual Content)
Southeast Asian Premiere
Isao Fujisawa
An ever-present figure of early Japanese New Wave cinema, Isao Fujisawa was assistant director to avant-garde master Hiroshi Teshigahara before shooting his sole narrative feature, Bye Bye Love (1974). This cult classic was thought lost until its negatives were recently unearthed. Fujisawa went on to make several award-winning television documentaries.
Ren Tamura,
Miyabi Ichijyo
Isao Fujisawa
