Description

Republished 11/16/2025 (originally published on April 19, 2020, as "'Trylove in the Time of Corona' Episode 4")

• In April 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, HAUSU (1977) director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi passed away from lung cancer. With the Trylon closed for public safety, we took the opportunity to diverge from our typical format and cover one of the director's least-seen films: HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND. The film eventually played at the Trylon in November 2025 during an Ōbayashi film series, so we've republished our original episode to mark the occasion. The original description is as follows with updated credits and references.

In honor of Nobuhiko Obayashi's passing on April 10, we're discussing HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND (1986), the director's summery teen romance that does what all good teen movies do: it makes you want to trek the Japanese countryside on a Kawasaki motorcycle.

Less outrageous but no less pointed than Obayashi's seminal HAUSU (1977), HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND is still a showcase for the director's playful awareness of audience and how to surmount the limitations of cinema. Only Obayashi could make a movie about falling for someone so deeply that the differences between seasons, between selves, between fantasy and reality, cease to matter – and then carry that thesis through every element of the film's production.

References:

• "Memories of Summer"

— Harry Mackin's essay on HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

• “Be the Wind: Movie Motorbikes and the Power of Bōsōzoku”

by Jake Rudegair for Perisphere, the Trylon blog

• Tylove Episode 356: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (1983)

• Trylove Episode 303: BEIJING WATERMELON (1989)

• Trylove Episode 42: :̷̫̯͇̲̤̥͈ ̷͎̟̮̙͔̖H̡A̤̘̘͕͎͉̪͟U̧͚̖͚̟ͅS̹̠̻̳U͚̠̱͚̮̦ ̦͉̩͠(̗1̤̮͈͢9̳͙̮̱̜̯̬7̙̮͇̥7́)̵͎

• Trylove Episode 2: HAUSU (1977)

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