FIRST LOVE

		Review by E.C.McMullen Jr.
IT HELPS TIP JAR FIRST LOVE aka Hatsukoi - 2019 USA Release: Sep. 2, 2019 Akatsuki, HanWay Films, Oriental Light and Magic (OLM), Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Toei Company Rated: USA: R

Leo (Masataka Kubota: GODDOTAN: KISU GAMAN SENSHUKEN THE MOVIE, FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON [TV], DEATH NOTE [TV], TOKYO GHOUL, UNNATURAL, TOKYO GHOUL: 'S') is a boxer fighting on the poverty row circuit. He's young, talented, but not hungry at all. He boxes because it's the only thing he knows how to do. He does it well and boxing pays for food and rent. So he gets his head bashed in on all of the nights when he's not practicing and working out for the next match. This is his life, all of it, and his coach can't convince him to win the crowd over with personality and charm. He could go far if only he played to the audience.

Leo wins fights, that should be enough for anyone. It's enough for him.

Elsewhere in this part of town, in an alley, a man loses his head to an assassin armed with a sword.

In another area, in relative comfort, an aging yakuza boss must consider retaliation against a Chinese gang pushing their way into his turf. There is a supposed truce between the Chinese gang and the crime boss's bosses higher up the food chain. The old and weary Deputy boss (Sansei Shiomi) delegates authority to his number one, Gondo (Seiyô Uchino: AKUMU NO EREBÊTÂ, HOMUNCULUS) warning him not to be impetuous, as the truce is tenuous and they can't be seen as the ones who broke it.

Among the gathered in the room is a young, low level yakuza, Kase (Shôta Sometani: JIGOKU KOZÔ, DEVIL MAN, ISN'T ANYONE ALIVE?, SADAKO 3D, WOLF CHILDREN, LESSON OF THE EVIL, STRAWBERRY NIGHT, THE BRAIN MAN, EVERYONE IS PSYCHIC! [TV], TOUCHING THE SKIN OF EERINESS, MOZU [TV], AS THE GODS WILL, PARASYTE [all], FOREBODING, STARE). He witnessed first hand the headless corpse in the alley and the local beat detective, Otomo (Nao Ômori: ICHI THE KILLER, DEMON LOVER, PERFECT BLUE, OUT, SARU, MUSHI-SHI: THE MOVIE, TORMENTED, AS THE GODS WILL, PARASYTE [all], SIGN) came sidled over and told him that his Detective's intuition smells the start of a war between the gang he's in and the Chinese.

Kase, being young and new to the life, knows that he'll be a frontline pawn if such a thing happens. Soon Kase comes up with a plan to get out of the life before it all blows up, but he'll need the detective's help.

This is a dirty plan full of murder and treachery, but also full of untraceable gang money. Since only low-life criminals will die, what's the harm after all? And if it all works out, Otomo will have a fortune and look like a hero for busting the local yakuza gang.

Elsewhere a drugged up young woman named Monica (Sakurako Konishi: SIN SAMEJIMA JIKEN), lying in filthy clothes, hallucinates a ghost and begs to be let out of her room. Her pimp, Julie (Becky: MAKOTO) beats her down, reminding her that she still hasn't paid off her father's debt.

At a nearby Penitentiary, a crime boss, Yasu (Takahiro Muira: SCATTERED REFLECTION, ATTACK ON TITAN [1 & 2], SHIN GODZILLA, CROW'S BLOOD [TV], RAGE [2016], CUTIE HONEY: TEARS, GHOST MASTER, THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS) gets out of prison and is greeted by his henchmen. They dutifully, respectfully wish him to relax in freedom, but Yasu has big plans to get back on top and fast.

As all of these random strings draw together, Leo loses a bout in a strange enough way that his coach sends him to a doctor for an MRI. The news is bad. Leo has a cancerous tumor between his brain stem and the rest of his brain. The doctor has no idea how long Leo has to live, but it's likely in days, not months.

Staggered by the death sentence, Leo wanders the streets refusing to accept such a thing but overwhelmed by the diagnosis that's upended his world.

It's at this moment, when Leo has nothing to live for, that he inadvertantly steps into the crosshairs of a bunch of angry, frightened, violent, idiot, immoral crime gangsters all fueled on paranoia, suspicion, distrust, betrayal, and a child's idea of honor.

And then?

It's Miike time!

Director Takashi Miike (ANDROMEDIA, MPD: PSYCHO, AUDITION, BIJITÂ Q, THE HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS, DRAGON HEAD, ICHI THE KILLER, GOZU, ZEBRAMAN, IZO, IMPRINT, LESSON OF EVIL, SHIELD OF STRAW, OVER YOUR DEAD BODY, AS THE GODS WILL, YAKUZA APOCALYPSE, TERRA FORMARS, LAPLACE'S WITCH, THE GREAT YOKAI WAR: GUARDIANS) carved out this niche of Horrific action crime cinema and it's more than nobody else doing it any better - nobody else can do it at all.

Your kudos to Quentin Tarantino are well deserved but there's no comparison. Even while he's in the same genre he might as well be on an alternate earth. Further, Quentin is a hardcore Miike fan and for good reason. Tarantino could shoot an entire movie in Japan featuring only Japanese actors and you would still be able to immediately tell the difference.

FIRST LOVE reunites Takashi with a screenwriter from his early days, Masa Nakamura (ANDROMEDIA, DEAD OR ALIVE 2: BIRDS, DRAGON HEAD).

I'd also be remiss in not giving respect to the inventive Musical style mixes of Kôji Endô, the sharp mood setting Cinematography of Nobuyasu Kita, and the Production Design of Tsuyoshi Shimzu, where all of the characters live in their own distinct environments and find themselves lost and on dangerous ground whenever they step out of their personal "zones".

Takashi never turns away from the gore and brutality, yet at the same time, every inhuman monster of a criminal is all too human. Comedy comes as the various criminals expect their plans to go well and are repeatedly frustrated by all of the unforseen mishaps as people they had no reason to anticipate appear seemingly out of nowhere as all the best laid plans go crashing into each other.

We were whooping, laughing, and having a great time with the master's latest masterpiece, FIRST LOVE.

5 Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2022 E.C.McMullen Jr.

SHRIEK GIRL
Feo Amante's Shriek Girl T-Shirt by FeoAmante	Feo Amante's Shriek Girl T-Shirt by FeoAmante

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY (Sub-Section: HARDCORE CRIME HORROR)
KICK-ASS MOVIE REVIEW	SE7EN MOVIE REVIEW	KILL BILL MOVIE REVIEW

Return to Movies