Synopsis
Set over one night in Tokyo, we follow Leo, a young boxer down on his luck as he meets his ‘first love’ Monica, a call-girl and an addict but still innocent. But, little does Leo know, Monica is unwittingly caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, and the two are pursued through the night by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin sent by the Chinese Triads. All their fates intertwine in spectacular Miike style, at his most fun and anarchic.
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Cast
- Masataka KubotaLeo Katsuragi
- Nao OmoriŌtomo
- Shota SometaniKase
- Sakurako KonishiMonica
- BeckyJulie
- Takahiro MiuraYasu
- Mami FujiokaChiachi
- Yen Cheng-kuoWan
- Duan Chun-haoFu
- Maimi YajimaMiyuki
Recommendations
- 83
The Film Stage
The pacing is breakneck but the economy with which Miike establishes his various narrative threads and characters is astonishing. - 83
IndieWire
Frequently sublime ... a piece of work so feral and full of life that you’d never guess it was (at least) the 90th feature its director has made in the last 30 years. - 83
The A.V. Club
First Love ranks among Miike’s most purely entertaining movies (out of more than 100 now!), gradually building steam until it reaches a sustained pitch of cheerful insanity. - 80
Screen Daily
An exhilarating cocktail of bloodbath violence and tar-black humour that will be catnip to Midnight Madness programmers and Miike devotees. - 80
Variety
First Love may be a fluffier, more eager-to-please bauble than Miike’s more challengingly outré titles, but like the cutesy mechanical toy puppy that turns up yapping in the middle of the film, it is wired to explode, and it is a blast. - 75
The Playlist
While not quite arriving at the delirious cult highs of a classic like “Ichi the Killer,” “First Love” is Miike’s most accessible work in years. - 75
Movie Nation
If you haven’t sampled the works of Miike before now, here’s the perfect introduction. And yakuza action-comedy fans, you never forget your First Love. - 75
Slant Magazine
First Love reveals itself to be an elegant and haunting Takashi Miike film in throwaway clothing.
