First Love

Takashi Miike is a divisive director; his films are insane, violent, adrenaline-filled and lacking in dramatic subtly. They’re odes to excessive entertainment. After directing over a hundred movies Miike has become a seasoned veteran in his brand of extravagance. First Love has all the best and worst of his directorial tendencies. The film showcases the maturity in his style but also its limitations. The result is still an entertaining movie but one that is highly uneven.

First Love is about a young boxer, Leo, who learns that he has a terminal brain tumor. It’s also about a troubled girl who’s addicted to cocaine and forced into prostitution to pay for her father’s debts. There’s also a hefty cast of Yakuza and Chinese tirade goons who enter and exit the movie through a swiftly revolving door. It’s all a bit too much, and while Miike doesn’t balance it perfectly the multi narratives do make for an engaging experience. 

As soon as the movie starts the plot moves at a mile a minute. You spend most of the first half trying to keep up and understand who everyone is. The gritty cinematography doesn’t help you organize the narrative visually, and the choppy editing often obscures the scene transitions leaving you guessing which characters you’re following at the moment. First Love spends far too little time with its main character. His flimsy characterization and passingly developed love interest leaves the ending feeling a little more distant that Miike probably intended.

However, First Love largely works as a movie of pure energetic entertainment. Miike’s most sadistic tendencies have been scaled back and the narrative is intelligently designed. For all the confusing back and forth editing, the script is tight and engaging. This is a violent comedy and it works best when everyone is playing a caricature doing crazy things. The comedy, perhaps the most engaging aspect of the movie, comes from Miike’s experience staging violence, and shows a bit of self-awareness and maturity in his style. 

While there isn’t much in the way of narrative depth, there are enough of the narrative fundamentals to create a mostly rewarding experience. There is an attempt at a deeper narrative that is appreciated but the manic editing back and forth between different characters leaves the result feeling a little underwhelming. Though the movie does attempt to do too much, when it hits its stride First Love is a ridiculously fun action-comedy.