First Love (2019) (Japanese Language)

Review

108min

Genre:        Action, Comedy, Crime, Romance

Director:      Takashi Miike

Cast:          Masataka Kubota, Sakurako Konishi, Becky…and more

Writers:      Masa Nakamura

-Synopsis-

After receiving a bleak diagnosis, a young Japanese boxer’s life is forever changed when he inadvertently gets caught in the middle of a Yakuza drug-smuggling conspiracy and gang war, after he meets a demure call-girl with psychological issues and they go on the run . . . with bloody and hilarious consequences.

When it comes to modern filmmaking careers, few have been as fruitful or varied as that of Japan’s Takashi Miike; having spent nearly three decades dipping his toes in everything from human dramas to horrors, family comedies to romances, crime thrillers to samurai epics, flirting with most storytelling sensibilities and often displaying a certain bloodlust. Now after joining the 100 club in 2017 with bloody samurai epic ‘Blade of the Immortal’, the uber-prolific director returns to form and reverts to his bread and butter—over-the-top violent black comedy—delving into classic Hollywood and modern genre film to deliver an outrageous gangster flick road movie and an unlikely outsider romance for a new generation.

Masataka Kubota stars as stoic young boxer ‘Leo’, in a rut after a loss and a dire prognosis when his life is upended by a chance meeting with demure and troubled young prostitute ‘Monica’ (Sakurako Konishi). Together becoming unwitting pawns at the centre of a local crime war when the actions of shifty gangster ‘Kase’ (Shôta Sometani) triggers a drug battle against the feared Chinese Triads, pulling his Yakuza boss ‘Gondo’ (Seiyô Uchino) and murderous enforcer ‘Julie’ (Becky) into the fray as lines are crossed and backs stabbed—as the two youngsters go on the run but are chased by all manner of madness, finding themselves an island of victimhood and innocence in a sea of crime and corruption.

If you like your romances repressed and bloody, your crime thrillers hilariously ultra-violent, or you’re looking for both wrapped in a brazen and gory black comedy package with serious action credentials, then ‘First Love’ is the flick for you. Ever the bold genre navigator, Miike takes core elements of unconventional forbidden romances like ‘True Romance’ and ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and combines them with influences from corruption crime thrillers like ‘Internal Affairs’, throwing in a splash of slapstick stoner comedy ala ‘Pineapple Express’ and blending it all together with Tarantinoesque tendencies and his own penchant for comical levels of graphic violence.

The result is a muscular crime thriller mixed with a gory screwball black comedy of errors featuring archetypal characters and sharp dialogue, displaying plenty of personality and a fair measure of heart, and with a restrained romantic drama at its heart. Being a Takashi Miike movie, ‘First Love’ is also to some extent a traditional Japanese gangster flick, featuring strong themes of vengeance, savagery and honour codes, with the Samurai ethic to match.

Into this mayhem are thrown the film’s de facto ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, the quiet young boxer with no future and the demure skittish call-girl with lingering childhood trauma and serious psychological issues, subtly played by Kubota and Konishi who effectively prove the movie’s straight men. This allows the cast around them to go all out and eat the scenery, populating Miike’s world with often shifty, occasionally menacing and almost always over-the-top shady figures—with Shôta Sometani as the ambitious dodgy young gangster and Becky as the vengeful and murderous Yakuza enforcer stealing every scene and practically the whole show.

As you might expect from its director, ‘First Love’ is blessed with style and plenty of energy to drive it forward, with Miike only occasionally tempering the momentum with a bit of poignancy but without descending into out-of-place earnestness or sentimentality. Everything is ultimately driven by a pulsating score from composer and regular Takashi Miike collaborator Kôji Endô, who uses themes reminiscent of Hollywood crime thrillers like Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ combined with more idiosyncratic jazz and funk flourishes to great effect—all leading to an outrageously bloody and hilariously creative, Tarantino-inspired head-shooting and limb-slicing finale you won’t soon forget.

Miike’s latest is far from his finest though, not as bold, intricate or inventive as some of his previous work, nor is it frankly as out there, outrageous or over-the-top as some of his earlier Japanese gangster flicks or samurai epics, and although its simplicity is a strength it also proves something of a limitation, while its action credentials are slightly subdued despite the epic ending. But for a two-films-a-year filmmaker with a filmography as long as Shaquille O’Neal’s arm, ‘First Love’ still takes its place in the upper echelons of the director’s work, featuring all the hilarious black comedy you could hope for and the characters to match, and more than enough reckless abandon to keep you morbidly delighted for just shy of two hours.

The Bottom Line…

A date movie with a difference, ‘First Love’ sees one of the world’s most prolific feature filmmakers return to form as Takashi Miike delivers his yearly dose of outrageous genre hybrid and black comedy romp in blood-spattered style—bringing plenty of attitude, idiosyncrasy and personality to a Japanese honour code gangster epic and an unlikely burgeoning young romance, while beating you over the head until you submit.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Blade of the Immortal (2017)

In the hope of regaining his soul and finally achieving inner peace, a skilled but cursed and cranky immortal Samurai agrees to help a young girl avenge her parents, murdered by a group of ruthless outlaw swordsmen and their enigmatic leader—but their bond soon becomes greater than one of pure convenience, in this adaptation of the violent Manga series and the 100th film of Japanese director Takashi Miike’s long and illustrious career.

Directed by Takashi Miike and starring Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki and Sôta Fukushi among others.

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