Bye Bye Love

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Kani Releasing has acquired the rights for screening Isao Fujisawa’s 1974 cult queer classic “Bye Bye Love” in North America, a film that was thought to have been lost over time. Kani Releasing aims to debut the film in U.S. art house cinemas towards the end of 2025. Following this, there will be a limited release on VOD platforms and home video distribution.

For many years, the single piece of fiction from Fujisawa, “Bye Bye Love”, was believed to be gone forever as the only screening copy had decayed to the point it could no longer endure projection. However, luckily, the original negative of the film was found in a storage unit at a Tokyo film lab in 2018. Since then, Japanese producer and director Akihiro Suzuki (known for “Looking for an Angel”) has been advocating for the restoration and reintroduction of this film.

The films created by Suzuki, as well as numerous self-produced movies, were significantly impacted by the popular indie film “Bye Bye Love“, a fact that is evident in Japan’s 1970s counterculture. Furthermore, Kani Releasing has acquired all North American distribution rights for Suzuki’s movie “Looking for an Angel” (1999), which was directly inspired by “Bye Bye Love“.

Through working as an assistant director for Hiroshi Teshigahara on various 1970s Japanese New Wave masterpieces like “Woman in the Dunes” and “The Face of Another,” Fujisawa honed his craft that eventually led to the creation of “Bye Bye Love.” Although he also worked in television and directed documentaries, “Bye Bye Love” was his sole fictional feature. Known for its deeply personal exploration of sexual identity, this film has been recognized by critics as occupying a unique space between Jean Luc Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou,” Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” and Toshio Matsumoto’s “Funeral Parade of Roses.” All three films are celebrated for their exceptional style, powerful anti-imperialist and existentialist themes.

In “Goodbye Love,” we encounter the aimless and disillusioned character of Utamaro, who crosses paths with the enigmatic, gender-fluid figure of Giko, who initially presents as female but identifies beyond the traditional binary. This chance meeting sets off a series of events, eventually leading them to be on the run after being implicated in a murder. The story then serves as an engaging platform to delve into deep-seated societal malaise, the emerging culture of free love, and the fluidity of gender identities, all set against the backdrop of rapidly changing Japan. As Utamaro and Giko grow closer, they engage in a series of unusual, dreamlike, intense, and frankly sexual experiences, which help them to understand each other better.

After the rediscovery and restoration of the negatives for the movie “Bye Bye Love”, the Metrograph cinema in New York showed the film with great enthusiasm, alongside the acclaimed adaptations of Kobo Abe’s works by Teshigahara and Fujisawa – specifically, “Women of the Dunes” and “Face of Another”.

Drawing inspiration from the movie “Bye Bye Love”, Akihiro Suzuki’s first work, “Looking for an Angel” (1999), tells the story of Shinpei, a rural newcomer to Tokyo, who grapples with the murder of Takachi, a well-known gay performer, particularly recognized for his adult films. Amidst the nostalgic, blue-tinted cityscape captured in various film formats such as 8mm and video, the audience gradually uncovers the passionate tale of Takachi’s life. This film, characterized by free-flowing narrative and complete independence, was described by Suzuki himself as transcending traditional labels like straight, gay, queer, bisexual, asexual, or pornographic, instead embodying an “anti-heterosexist” perspective.

An unexpected, remarkable find in the realm of Japanese cinema has surfaced, thanks to dedicated archivists like Akihiro Suzuki and Collaborative Cataloguing Japan. According to Ariel Esteban Cayer, co-founder and artistic director of Kani Releasing, the film Bye Bye Love seems to be a missing puzzle piece in the ongoing cinematic narrative of Japanese counterculture – a movement that later influenced films such as Looking for an Angel and numerous other jishu eiga movies daring enough to defy conventions with their themes and spirit. Cayer expresses his pride in being able to share these films with a broader audience.

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2025-04-03 10:25