First Love [Hatsukoi] ** (2019, Masataka Kubota, Sakurako Konishi, Becky) – Movie Review

Masataka Kubota stars in director Takashi Miike’s romantic crime drama First Love [Hatsukoi] (2019) as young boxer Leo, who is unexpectedly knocked him out in the ring, setting him off on a chain of events one night in Tokyo involving drugs, corrupt police, the Yakuza, a female assassin (Becky) and Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a drug-addicted, hallucinating escort he rescues.

The comic-book tone, with broad black comedy laughs, undercuts and spoils this Yakuza thriller by not taking its story and characters seriously. First Love’s uneasy, indigestible mix of nasty violence, wacky characters and zany events damages its credibility. It’s only a movie, apparently, not any kind of reality. Nothing is invested in it. Admittedly, First Love works as an entertainment. It is funny in places, and it is also exciting, with staged action and stunts, very striking visuals (cinematography by Nobuyasu Kita) and a strong soundtrack (score by Kôji Endô).

But involvement is hard, considering its divorcement from reality. [Spoiler alert] Here is a prime example. The hero is told after his knockout that he has brain cancer and is about to die. This empowers him to act fearlessly, and on behalf of others – the heroine. But then, much later, it is jokily revealed on his answerphone that there has been a hospital mixup and he is well after all. This is revealed in the middle of the climactic mayhem, and is an amusing digression, but it is ridiculous, annoyingly ridiculous.

Let us pass by unanswered the question of whether brain cancer, imminent death and hospital mixups are subjects for humour. Obviously subtlety and sensitivity are not high on First Love’s list of priorities. But then you would think the love story would be.

We are invited to like the hero and heroine, be involved in their love affair and possible survival against the odds story, but writer Masa Nakamura is treating it like a silly, underdeveloped joke. It just doesn’t work, especially when several of the performances are way over the top. The three leading female roles are neither well written nor very well performed. It is dangerous to turn a car getaway stunt into an actual cartoon, but that’s exactly what Takashi Miike does, and the risk does not pay off.

Jun Murakami, Nao Ohmori, Seiyô Uchino and especially Shôta Sometani as the main villain Kase all have fun playing various quirky lowlifes.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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