New Restoration

“Bye Bye Love is a film that wants you to perceive its world in the fluidity that it speaks so passionately of … The potentialities that Fujisawa offers are radical.”

Blake Simons, Screen Slate

Considered lost until a recent archival rediscovery, Bye Bye Love is a singular work of independent queer cinema. Though it features nameless lovers on the run and brashly borrows from Godard’s Pierrot le fou, this is not a simple work of homage. The film’s protagonist, who dubs himself Utamaro, might believe he’s a lone criminal hero as the narrative starts. His heedless macho motivation leads him to an act of violence, but it’s his encounter with a gender-fluid partner-in-crime that deemphasizes his role and reorganizes the film’s momentum. Fujisawa Isao worked under Teshigahara Hiroshi (Woman in the Dunes), yet for his sole directorial work he distanced himself from the industry, allowing him the freedom to make an underground film with an uncommon curiosity about forms of rebirth, whether in playful sex scenes or rapid montage. Like Funeral Parade of Roses, Bye Bye Love was originally released at the Art Theatre Guild’s Shinjuku cinema.

In Japanese and English with English subtitles

“Fujisawa’s depiction of [Utamaro and Giko’s] platonic but close and emotional relationship had no precedent in Japanese cinema … [A film] of notable and lasting interest.”

Tony Rayns, BFI

“Bye Bye Love exceptionally encapsulates the rebellious spirit of 1970s Japan … [The film] also represents 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, Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2024
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