'Cutie and the Boxer': Art and marriage

THE documentary "Cutie and the Boxer" depicts the fraught but somehow stable and contented marriage of New York artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara.

Ushio Shinohara made a brief splash in the art scene 40 years ago as an action painter - he dipped boxing gloves in paint and punched the canvas, leaving splatters of color behind. Still does, in fact.

During his 15 minutes, he met and wedded a much younger Japanese woman and aspiring artist, Noriko, who set her own ambitions aside to raise the child they had together and cope with her husband's alcoholism.

Now, four decades on, she's finding her own voice as a pen-and-ink artist, with illustrated panels that chronicle a patient woman's troubled relationship with a dominating man.

"Cutie and the Boxer" is a very candid, honest look at a complicated marriage, though it's a movie that explains more than it shows, and perhaps for that reason leaves us at a bit of an emotional remove from its subjects.

Still, what a relief to walk into the art house and watch a movie about an enduring marriage that does not end with a pillow over someone's face.

Online: ph.ly/Movies