Bye Bye Love

Lost 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.

The 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.

“Anticipates the transgressive New Queer Cinema movies of Gregg Araki and Gus Van Sant...” — Luke Goodsell, Metrograph 

“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

“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

Isao Fujisawa was born December 17, 1941 in Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture. During his college days, he worked as an assistant director on Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes (1964) and The Face of Another (1966) before going on to work on the yakuza films of Yasuo Furuhata. After writing and directing Bye Bye Love (1974) he worked predominantly as a director on television documentaries. He has received numerous awards, including for Anna Ogino Living in Unforgivable Love and The Apple of Life, which also gained theatrical release.