Coming off a bit like an Asian version of a Quentin Tarantino/Guy Ritchie feature, First Love (2019) finds iconic Japanese director Takashi Miike (now with over one hundred films under his belt) in his favourite playground, fusing violence, comedy, crime, and romance together in a most entertaining way.
An intricate ballet of characters shot at the pace of a hockey game, Leo (Masataka Kubota) is a lonesome boxer. . . an abandoned young man whose only skill is being a pugilist. Taking a limp-wristed punch during a bout, he unexpectedly crumples to the ground like a baby who has just realized that he can walk for the very first time. Medical investigation shows a tumour on the back of his brain – a death warrant. Seeing a street fortune teller (Bengal) soon after, he is frustrated at the man’s two views: one – that he is a healthy young man; and two – that he needs to have a cause and help people.
Cut to Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a drug addled prostitute who has been given to the yakuza by her father to pay off his debt. A flag whipping around in a gale force wind, she has no backbone, no hope, and no future, lost in her own mind while being blown hither and thither by her inhospitable pimps Yasu (Takahiro Miura) and his girlfriend Julie (Becky). Further complicating things, her brain is reacting to the drugs by showing her a freaky vision from her past – leading her to have random fits of panic.
There is also Kase (Shôta Sometani), a mid level yakuza weasel with a plan, and his buddy Otomo (Nao Ohmori), a dirty cop. . . coming together, Kase develops a scheme to rip off his own yakuza – the goal: to rob a massive amount of drugs that they will then split. Furthering their idea, they hope that if they play things just right, the Japanese yakuza and the Chinese mafia will blame everything on the other. . . allowing them to succeed as the two groups slaughter each other.
Of course, there are mob bosses, crazy hitmen (including a one-armed, shotgun wielding assassin and a female killer with a surprisingly honourable moral compass), unexpected cops on the scene, and an array of other unique individuals. . . Miike bringing them all together over the course of the film so that they somehow find themselves in the gladiatorial ring in the third act – an expansive hardware store with dangers around every aisle and where chaos is truly allowed to reign. . . a finale where guns roar, swords flash, and the unimaginable happens.
Intricately written, it is quite impressive just how this fateful tale comes together. Though there could be a bit more emotion – especially when Leo and Monica come together through some sort of cosmic fate (the so-called ‘first love’ is really nothing more than chaotic survival – until a singular moment very close to the conclusion), Miike is an expert at editing these divergent stories together, comedy and action popping up at the most unexpected moments. Surprisingly, Julie has the most wildly outlandish, and often comedic arc (in a darkly disturbing way), yet there are also so-called throw-away gags – perhaps the best, a guy who just happens to have a cramp at the worst possible moment (during a shoot-out). . . the action punch-line a comedic note of unlucky violence.
An entrancing mix of multiple madcap genres, First Love is a quirky combination of violent action, crazy comedy, lousy criminals, the unluckiest of luck and a twisted fate. . . star crossed lovers meet, bizarre alliances are made, and gangs not destined to clash do. We watch as characters grow and reach their full potential, spin their wheels in a sordid plot that never wants to work out, prophecies come true, and animation comes out of the most unexpected situations. So, find your first love in this movie of barbaric beauty, and, despite all of the berserk bedlam, you’ll find that even in this world there is some hope for the future (if you can escape one night of pandemonium, that is).
This film is in Japanese with English subtitles