Isao Fujisawa’s Bye Bye Love (1974)
Nov 16, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Bok Auditorium, 800 Mifflin St, Philadelphia, PA 19148, USA
We are pleased to partner with Lightbox Film Center to screen Bye Bye Love in-person in Philadelphia. On November 19, curator and filmmaker Akihiro Suzuki will hold a virtual conversation after the screening of his film, Looking for an Angel (1999). Co-presented with Lightbox Film Center.
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. (Isao Fujisawa, Japan, 1974, 85 min.) In Japanese with English subtitles
Curator Akihiro Suzuki on Bye Bye Love
As the political era of the 60’s came to an end, a new form of independent film began to emerge, which was distinct from the waves of both underground filmmaking and experimental “personal films” in the cinema of the time. Influenced by the French Nouvelle Vague and the American New Cinema, several young filmmakers distanced themselves from the political orientation of independent cinema up to that point, and instead used a new style to craft stories that they themselves found interesting. This new cinema was produced with the aim of “recovering the original fun of movies” that had been lost in commercial entertainment films. While adopting the style of feature films, these films depicted a different world from the one shown in commercial movies, with novel themes and a fresh sensibility. Despite a lack of funds and limited technical ability, an overflowing love for movies and free expression gives the films a charm that transcends their production quality.
Isao Fujisawa, who started out as an assistant director on Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes (1964) andThe Face of Another (1966), and worked as an assistant director at Toei, began in 1972 to shoot a 16mm feature film with the aim of making a movie for himself. The 85-minute feature film, which took two years to complete, was originally titled “Kabuki Boys” (歌舞伎野郎), but was eventually changed to Bye Bye Love (バイバイラブ). Depicting, within the empty optimism of the 1970s, the complicated relationship between Utamaro and Giko in which sexuality and romantic feelings are entwined, this striking road movie struck a chord with its generation and became one of the most popular independent films of the 1970s. The treatment of themes of gender and sexuality in Bye Bye Love, whose progressive spirit prefigures queer cinema, is fresh to watch even now. A sense of color reminiscent of Godard's Pierrot le Fou, action such as gunfights and burning cars, a philosophical narration spoken over the melody of Bach, and an adventure in sexuality and platonic love. And at the close of their journey, an unexpected ending that seems to hover between life and death: describing the ending of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) as “a happy death”, Fujisawa presents in his own movie a new kind of love connection that transcends sexuality.
Isao Fujisawa never made another feature film after this work, and the only print of Bye Bye Love available for screening had deteriorated over time and was no longer viewable. Made with no big-name actors and few experienced professional staff, for a long time the film was essentially lost. However, in 2018, the negative of this work was accidentally discovered in the film warehouse of a laboratory. A film archivist confirmed the film's title, and it was put into the National Film Archive and a new print created and published. In 2022, when it was screened at the UNDERGROUND CINEMA FESTIVAL '22, many young audiences discovered this work and enthusiastically supported it.
I would like to express my gratitude for the miraculous coincidence that has brought back a movie full of the sparkle of youth, and the passion and freedom of a young moviemaker.
AKIHIRO SUZUKI
Translated by Mia Parnall
60年代の政治の季節が終わると、実験的な個人映画やアンダーグラウンド映画の流れとは別の新しいインディペンデント映画が生まれ始めた。ヌーヴェルヴァーグやアメリカン・ニューシネマに影響を受けた若い映画青年たちは、それまでの独立映画（インディペンデント・シネマ）の政治的志向から距離を置き、自分たちが面白いと思う物語を、新しい語り口で紡ぎ出そうとした。商業的な娯楽映画に失われてしまった“映画固有の面白さを回復する”ことを目指して制作されたそれらのニューシネマは、劇映画のスタイルを取りながらも、斬新なテーマやみずみずしい感性で商業映画とは別の世界を描き出した。資金不足や技術的な稚拙さなどもあったが、溢れる映画への愛と自由な発想は、映画の完成度を越えた面白さを時に生み出していた。
勅使河原宏の『砂の女（Woman in the Dunes )』(1964)と『他人の顔（The Face of Another)』(1966) の助監督から出発し東映の助監督として活動していた藤沢勇夫も、自分だけの映画を目指して'72年に16㎜の劇映画を撮り始めた。完成までに2年の歳月を要した85分の長編劇映画は、当初『歌舞伎野郎』というタイトルだったが、最終的に『バイバイ ラブ』に変更された。ウタマロとギーコのセクシャリティと恋愛感情の絡まり合う複雑な関係を、70年代初頭の空虚な明るさの中に描いたこの鮮烈なロードムービーは同世代の共感を呼び、70年代インディペンデント映画を代表する人気作となった。ジェンダーやセクシャリティを巡るテーマは、クィーア・シネマの先駆けともいえる先進性を持っていて、今観ても新鮮だ。ゴダールの『気違いピエロ（Pierrot le Fou)』を思わせる色彩感覚、銃撃戦や炎上する車などのアクション、バッハの旋律に乗って語られる哲学的なナレーション、プラトニックな愛とセクシャリティの冒険。そして、生と死の境界を彷徨うような二人の旅の先にある意外な結末…。『俺たちに明日はない（Bonnie and Clyde)』のラストを“幸福な死”と言う藤沢勇夫は、セクシャリティを越える新しい愛の繋がりをこの映画で提示してみせた。
藤沢勇夫は、この作品以降劇映画を撮る事はなかった。1本しかない上映用プリントは、経年劣化のために観れなくなってしまっていた。有名な俳優の出演もなく、経験豊富なプロのスタッフもほとんど使わずに制作されたこの作品は、長らく失われた映画となっていたのだ。しかし、2018年、この作品のネガが現像所のフィルム倉庫から偶然発見された。フィルム・アーキビストによって作品名が確認され、国立映画アーカイブが収蔵。ニュープリントを作成し、公開した。2022年、UNDERGROUND CINEMA FESTIVAL'22で上映されると、多くの若い観客がこの作品を発見し、熱狂的に支持した。
若き映画青年の情熱と自由、そして青春のきらめきが詰まった一本の映画が蘇った、奇跡のような偶然に感謝したい。
鈴木章浩
Isao Fujisawa
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). He then became an assistant director at Toei and worked on the yakuza films directed by Yasuo Furuhata and starring Ken Takakura, before leaving Toei in 1972 to write and direct Bye Bye Love, which was released in 1974. After that, he worked as a television director, and worked on many television documentaries, such as Morita Doji - Last Waltz (森田童子・ラストワルツ). He has received numerous awards, including the Galaxy Encouragement Award for Anna Ogino Living in Unforgivable Love (荻野アンナ 許されない恋に生きて). His feature-length documentary The Apple of Life (いのちの林檎, 2013), won the Grand Prix at a film festival and was released in theaters. His latest theatrical release is the feature-length documentary film Tokyo Meoto Zenzai (2023).
1941年12月17日 岩手県釜石市生まれ。大学生時代に勅使河原宏（Hiroshi Teshigawara)監督『砂の女』（1964)、『他人の顔』(1966)の助監督を務める。東映の助監督となり、降籏康男（Yasuo Furuhata)監督、高倉健(Ken Takakura)主演の任侠映画などに参加。1972年、脚本・監督作品『バイバイ ラブ』制作のため、東映を退社。1974年『バイバイ ラブ』公開。以降、テレビのディレクターとして『森田童子・ラストワルツ（Morita Doji-Last Waltz)』をはじめ、ドキュメンタリー番組を多数手掛ける。『荻野アンナ 許されない恋に生きて』でギャラクシー奨励賞を受賞するなど受賞歴多数。長編ドキュメンタリー『いのちの林檎』(2013)は、映画祭でグランプリ受賞、劇場公開された。最新劇場公開作は『東京夫婦善哉『Tokyo Meoto Zenzai』(2023)。
akihiro suzuki
Born in 1961, Akihiro Suzuki is a producer and filmmaker who predominantly works in the field of underground culture-related projects, and has directed, distributed, produced, and organized film festivals and screenings. He is also the director of S.I.G. Inc., and the underground online cinematheque, Art Saloon. Representative directorial works include Looking for an Angel (1999), Lunar Child (2009) and Artaud Double (2013), a film of the performance by Masahiko Akuta and Ko Murobushi. Production projects include I Like You, I Like You Very Much (directed by Hiroyuki Oki) and Syabondama Elegy (directed by Ian Kerkhof). Film festival projects include the Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Underground Archives, among others. Since 2021, they have organized the UNDERGROUND CINEMA FESTIVAL, dedicated to discovering, digitizing, archiving, and screening little-known independent, personal, and experimental films. The next edition is scheduled to take place across Japan starting in March 2026.