Hatsukoi (First Love)

HATSUKOI (FIRST LOVE) - OLM, Inc

There is a very common joke among Japanese film fans and Japanese film-goers in general that "you never know which film could be turned out to be directed by Takashi Miike (and yes, that's a Miike with two 'i')", a joke that holds some serious merit to itself because the director has almost 100 films credited to his name.

Unfortunately, with such vast filmography, it is easier to predict that most of Miike's films might not be good — if even watchable. For the past few years, or a good part of a decade to be exact, it has been showing just that; even his much better outings, like the serviceable The Blade of Immortal and brilliant 13 Assasins, lacked the absolute charm and identity that made his earlier works, like Audition and Ichi-The Killer, a classic. If this whole ordeal was to be summarized, there are a chunk of films that are 'directed by Takashi Miike' but not many that are a ‘Takashi Miike film'. Fortunately, First Love will be remembered among the latter category rather than the former.

Following the story of a young boxer, Leo (Masataka Kubota), who gets mixed up with a call-girl and addict, Monica (Sakurako Konishi), in a drug-smuggling scheme, and his subsequent struggle to survive the night with Monica from the perpetrators out for their blood while slowly falling in love with her. While this premise might look serious on paper, the film is anything but. In comparison, First Love is closer to the eccentric-fun of Ichi-The Killer than the deep and depressing tone of Audition.

The film knows its audience and plays to that strength with effectiveness, as its comedic and surprisingly good actions scenes that are elevated by every passing second, never tuning down on its craziness and bringing it all up to eleven with every chance afforded. This sort of eccentricity in any film could have quickly gone haywire and lose cohesiveness, subsequently making it a jarring experience, fortunately, and against all the odds, Miike does not let that happen. Even between its utter craziness, there is a sense of a natural follow-through of the narrative and characters, making it an entertaining watch from start to finish.

 The most surprising and commendable element that Miike is able to pull through this madness is the ability to make the audience care and believe in the relationship of the main couple while never toning down on the action, expertly mixing elements of heart-warming all the way to batshit insanity. This is something that is very hard to conceptualize, let alone execute effectively. The acting by most of the cast also plays well in conjunction to this eccentric madness, as none of the actors feel out of place or out of context and each one of them is able to ascend their skills without overstepping the boundaries of the required storyline.

 The cinematography by Nobuyasu Kita, however, is a complicated beast to discuss. While the shots are professionally taken and captures the madness beautifully, they don't go full crazy like the story or the situation on the screen. Now the reason this point is a little challenging to talk about is that the cinematography, for all intents and purposes, is beautiful and the general audience will not even mind it, possibly even applaud it. However, there is this suspended feeling of wasted potential, as an expectation for an utter crazy shot is barely met throughout the full runtime of this movie.

If there is one thing that can adequately be taken as a negative for this feature, it could be that at some points in the film the storyline feels a tad bit repetitive. There is a repetitive sequence of someone trying to get out of a tricky situation and while that repetitiveness is never a detriment to the experience, because of the sheer enjoyment one feels during the movie, it will be an inconvenient point of memory.

Still, even among its bare repetitiveness, First Love is a genuine crowd-pleaser and a fun movie in general. Whether the viewer is familiar with the works of Takashi Miike or not, they will be fully satisfied with their viewing experience and possibly plan to re-watch this feature alongside a bunch of friends — or alone — to experience the entertaining madness once more for a fun night.

Hatsukoi (First Love) is released February 14th, 2020.