Color, 1986, 90 mins. 1 sec.
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Starring Riki Takeuchi, Kiwako Harada, Tomokazu Miura, Noriko Watanabe
Cult Epics (Blu-ray) (US RA HD), Third Window Films (Blu-ray) (UK RB HD) / WS (1.85:1) (16:9)

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A colorful and charismatic filmmaker, Nobuhiko Obayashi is still best known to Western viewers for his caffeinated horror epic House but excelled in everything from anti-war dramas to TV commercials to tender dramas. More or less in that last category is one of his most locally beloved films, His Motorbike, Her Island, which fuses his affinity with youth-oriented storylines with the romantic bike culture that flourished throughout the country. His flamboyant visual style is still present here as well, this time with a dreamlike combination of nonlinear color and A Man and a Woman-style monochrome giving the seemingly simple love story at its core some extra emotional heft. It's also a wistful alternative to the usual biker gang stories like the almost contemporary manga Bomber Bikers of Shonan and its offspring.

Devoted to his Kawasaki, Koh (Harada) splits his time between college, a part-time delivery job, and looking for a girl who will share his primary passion. One prospective romance begins with cabaret singer Fuyumi (Watanable) whose desire to ride is prohibited by her biker brother, Hidemasa (Miura), whom we see confronting Koh at the beginning. After going on a sort of biker vision quest, he meets the bike-fixated Miyoko (Harada) who wants to learn how to ride. He ends up spending quite a bit of time on the island where she lives, often doused in rain, and a romance begins while the lives around them also evolve. However, as a year passes between the Obon Festival on the island, fears mount between them about the dangers of their motorbike riding and their fidelity to each other.

Balancing the romantic with the melancholy, this film could have been a very straightforward mood piece but becomes something special in Obayashi's hands as he plays with the nature of film itself. Part of that is achieved through the bookending device of photography which allows the frame to freeze and the action to leap around in a way that feels integral to the characters' journey, and you get some eccentric touches worthy of the director along the way like an amusing diversion involving nudist biking. The central location is essentially a character unto itself as well, with the roaring sea and the frequent precipitation giving it a strong tactile feeling throughout.

The first English-friendly Blu-ray appeared in 2022 from U.K. label Third Window Films as part of a four-title Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years set along with School in the Crosshairs, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Island Closest to Heaven. A standalone release followed in 2024, featuring the exact same disc with an expertly researched and insightful track by Tom Mes, an archival Obayashi interview (15m44s), and the theatrical trailer. In 2025, Cult Epics gave the film its first U.S. release of any kind as a Blu-ray special edition that marked the debut of their Obayashi line including the other three films mentioned from the set above. The HD master is the same here as the prior Blu-ray, which is fine as it looks great and doesn't have any issues of note. Here you get LPCM and DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono Japanese tracks with optional improved English subtitles, both of which sound good and comparable to the PCM on the earlier release. This time Samm Deighan does the audio commentary honors and proves to be an expert guide through the film as she surveys Obayashi's career (with some choice recommendations along the way), the shifts in Japanese cinema around this time including the rise of V-cinema, the trends of biker and girl gang movies before this, and the backgrounds of the major players. The visual essay "Becoming the Wind: His Motorbike, Her Island and the Biker Movie" (25m11s) by Esther Rosenfield looks at the quirks of biker culture including cinematic touchstones both from Japan (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and abroad (Scorpio Rising) and all of the political and sexual implications that come with it. Then a second visual essay, "Her Island: Onomichi Pt. 1" (21m18s) by Alex Pratt, studies the importance of the coastal locale, the various participants' connections to Kadokawa, the role of the sea in the emotional undercurrents of the story, and the poetic views of Obayashi himself for the town. The archival Obayashi interview (15m44s) is here as well, covering his refusal to rank his work and disdain for separating "A" and "B" movies, his creative process, literary affinities in the story, and the casting decisions he made for his leads. Also included are the trailer and bonus trailers for School in the Crosshairs, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and The Island Closest to Heaven. The first pressing also comes with a 24-page Japanese promo booklet reproduction, and direct purchases also have a theatrical poster postcard and reversible slipcase art by Sam Smith.

Cult Epics (Blu-ray)

Third Window (Blu-ray)

Reviewed on August 27, 2025