Nostalgia Kinky

This is a review of the 2025 Special Edition Blu-ray from Cult Epics.

An infectiously playful and moving mediation on memory and young love, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1986 cinematic powerhouse 彼のオートバイ、彼女の島 (HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND) is a work of wonder. Released just a year of so before Obayashi’s 50th birthday, HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is the kind of work centered on youth that only experience can deliver. Challenging like a complex poem, HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is a decidedly daring production that delights in playing with genre, norms and rules throughout its 90 minute run-time.

Opening the film in Black and White with the wonderful “A Movie” tag, Obayashi immediately begins tinkering with ‘polite’ cinematic form from the get go, flirting with his aspect ratio, sound and narrative all the while introducing some of the most delightfully jarring jump-cuts since Godard blew cinema up with it three decades before. The opening moments of HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND are wickedly confusing, almost as if Obayashi is daring his audience to follow-along. Those who take the challenge will be greatly rewarded.

By the time the film’s hypnotic theme song comes on and the first rain-streaked colors begin appearing, Obayashi has already placed what might have been a standard story of youthful passion in his own specific cinematic universe. Both a celebratory and mournful look at love and loss, the dreamy and time-hopping HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is a rare work that has its footing in well-established cinematic tropes while completely abandoning them all.

While it feels very much like a work of pure cinema, HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND began life as a 1977 novel by Yoshio Kataoka, who was nearing 40 upon the book’s publication. So HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND contains memories from two talented creators, both of whom were far enough away from their youth to romanticize it but close enough to keep the work itself youthful.

With it’s wonderfully moody cinematography by Yoshitaka Sakamoto, HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND makes use of its seaside location remarkably well. Sakamoto’s photography adds an added melancholic flavor to a story we are sure is going to end as a tragedy. Also, this is one of the WETTEST films I’ve ever seen and the rain throughout becomes an additional character, a part of the memory at the heart of HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND.

The cast of HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is spectacular and Cult Epics’ Blu-ray supplements go into great detail on just how each young actor came to the film and what they add. In fact, the supplements gathered together for this particular release do much to enhance the film in every way, adding much needed information about the film and the people who made it. Even though I had a year of Japanese cinema back in college, as an idiot American I’m always so grateful for cultural and historical context and these extras DELIVER.

Cult Epics’ new special edition release of HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND indeed includes hours of extras and they all serve the film incredibly well. A typically excellent commentary track by the GOAT Samm Deighan is on hand and it’s a terrifically informative listen about the film, Obayashi and this period in Japanese cinema. It’s an essential listen. Equally valuable are two lengthy video essays, each running close to half an hour each. First up is Esther Rosenfield’s “Becoming the Wind: His Motorbike, Her Island and the Biker Movie”, which does an excellent job at placing the film in historical cinematic connotations. After all, for all its poetry and power, HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND delights in playing with cinema genres throughout veering rapidly from bike-film to musical to everything in between.

A more personal essay can be found in the first part of Alex Pratt’s “Her Island: Onomichi” essay, which includes much about the real-life locations that inspired the film as well as Obayashi. I especially enjoyed Pratt’s modern-day shots of some of the film’s locations. Obayashi himself can be seen on a fascinating archival interview, which shows him as a lyrically reflective man and artist, who provides much insight to his incredible film. Obayashi can also be seen holding, and discussing, the film’s fun promo promotional booklet, which Cult Epics have kindly provided a full printed replica of inside the release. A photo gallery, reversable sleeve and slipcover with newly commissioned Sam Smith artwork is also included on this exceptional HD debut for HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND.

As someone whose memories mean more to me than anything else, I found HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND remarkably relatable and poignant. Obayashi’s film made me think of my own youthful love, long ago lost to me, and the tiny little moments we thought we’d forget that ended up becoming the very foundation of our story.

HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is now available from Cult Epics and is highly, highly recommended.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2025-