When he’s diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, orphaned boxer Leo finds himself without purpose. After visiting a fortune teller, who urges him to “fight for someone other than yourself,” Leo saves a young woman, Monica, from a man chasing her. What he doesn’t realize is that Monica, real name Yuri, is a prostitute, the man he punched, Otomo, is a corrupt cop, and that by saving the former, he’s unintentionally caught himself up in a large, extremely dangerous scheme involving stolen drugs, the yakuza, and a crazed female assassin. Now he and Monica must survive the night by avoiding the many parties coming after them. Will they? Watch the movie and find out.
When Takashi Miike presented First Love at Cannes, he apologized for making such a “sweet, sentimental movie,” with “no decapitations or violence.” This, of course, proved to be a joke, since someone gets their head chopped off within the first 10 minutes. And yet, for all his sarcasm, I don’t think Miike was wrong for describing this movie as sentimental. Yes, it’s a crime thriller with a frenetic pace, stylized violence, and tons of gallows humor. But it’s also a love story, and a very sweet one at that. To give you a sense for what I mean, the movie features a fairly long coda after the main crime narrative has wrapped up, where we see Monica and Leo moving on and building a life together. There’s a great montage which features the two fighting, though in different ways. For Leo, it’s literal fighting in the ring. For Monica, it’s going through withdrawal. I really liked this part, since, one, it’s a nice bit of parallel editing, and, two, it shows that strength isn’t just physical. Mental endurance is just as important. There’s also a really touching scene where Monica reunites with an old classmate, Ryuji. We learn that Monica had an abusive father, who eventually sold her into prostitution to pay off his debts, and that, one time, Ryuji beat the man up for her. Monica always viewed Ryuji as her white knight, and dreamt of starting a family with him. At the end of the movie, however, while she and Leo are wandering down the street, away from all the carnage, they happen to run into Ryuji, who’s older, fatter, and married now. This gives Monica a nice bit of closure, where she thanks him for what he did, and congratulates him on his marriage. I was shocked at how tender this moment was, and genuinely caught off guard to see something like it in a Takashi Miike movie. By the time the final shot rolled around, which is of Leo and Monica, now a happy couple, moving into an apartment together, I’d almost forgotten the insane crime caper that preceded it. I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would, and I’d genuinely urged you all to see it.
Now, just to be clear, I don’t think this flick is for everyone. It’s a violent crime-comedy in the vein of True Romance. You’ve got two young people on the run after accidentally stealing some drugs, and there’s a ton of pop culture heavy dialogue. In one scene early on, for instance, two Chinese mobsters discuss Ken Takakura, an actor famous for playing Yakuza, and lament how gangsters these days have got no class. There are several instances of Miike’s bizarre sense of humor, like how, whenever Monica is haunted by the memory of her father, the man appears as a pudgy guy in tighty whities, hiding underneath a ghost sheet. And the portrayal of women isn’t great. The female lead, Monica, is a junkie prostitute who constantly needs to be saved. Although, in fairness to the movie, she’s not the only female character. There’s also Julie, an assassin and Monica’s tout, who’s on the hunt for the man who killed her boyfriend. There’s a drunk nurse who comedically provides some directions in one scene. And there’s the Chinese gangsters who discuss Ken Takakura, and who eventually help Leo andMonica along their way. All of these characters are women, and all are different. The film is also much less violent than other Takashi Miike flicks. There’s no rape. There’s no torture. There’s no scatological humor. Though the movie is funny. Much of that humor comes from the character of Kase, a baby-faced yakuza who sets everything in motion when he decides to steal drugs from his own gang. His plan was to have Monica take the fall for everything, but, of course, things don’t go how he hoped. As the night progresses, and more and more complications arise, he keeps getting hurt and frustrated. By the end, he’s so bloody, tired and burnt out that every line he utters is some variation on, “Aw, you gotta be kidding me!” He’s a genuine joy to watch. So when you add all this together, a quick pace, well-staged, stylish action, funny humor and a surprisingly sweet love story, I’d say the movie is well worth a watch. It’s a good entry point for any people looking to get into Takashi Miike, and a welcome return to form for any of the maestro’s longtime fans. It may be one of my favorite movies of 2019, and if you decide to give it a watch, it might become one of yours as well.
liusviews 