First Love [DVD]

Like Guy Ritchie and Quintin Tarentino got together and did a mash up of their best works..

Prolific Japanese film-maker (more than two films per year over a 30+ year career) Takashi Miiake’s 2019 film is certainly not original – Korean Kim Yong-hoon’s 2020 film Beasts Clawing At Straws (and, no doubt, many others) follows a similar pattern – being a gangster (Yakuza)-based thriller with moments of extreme violence and dark humour (à la Tarantino), but the film has enough pluses to raise it above the run-of-the-mill. The, perhaps superficially deceptive, title finds the film’s two main protagonists 'from the wrong side of the tracks’ Masataka Kubota’s promising boxer and 'orphan’, Leo, and Sakurako Konishi’s abused and forced prostitute, Yuri/Monica, thrown together via the film’s intricate and, often, fanciful plot and attempting to avoid the clutches of warring Yakuza and Chinese drug gangs, plus the odd bent cop thrown in for good measure.Within what is otherwise a derivative effort, Miiake and screenwriter, Masaru Nakamura, do give us some intriguing (and certainly entertaining!) moments, lines and characters, delivered to the screen with slick editing and an intricate plot. Both Kubota and Konishi are solid and, luckily, readily endearing in what is an unlikely 'partnership’, whilst Shota Sometani’s double-crossing gang sidekick (and perennial liability), Kase, and Becky’s double-crossed and violently unhinged 'moll’, Julie, are also standouts in Miiake’s cast. Following Leo’s collapse in the boxing ring and his doom-laden medical diagnosis, we also get an amusing twist around superstition and fortune-telling, plus a musical theme throwback to classic American noir (à la The Untouchables, say) accompanying a dynamic car chase. Just when Miiake is (for this viewer, at least) close to throwing it all away with a predictably OTT violent denouement, the mood is nicely undercut with a 'Trust Japanese cars’ quip as our ‘heroes’ attempt their getaway. Not a classic or with the originality of, say, Wong Kar-wai’s neo-noir Fallen Angels, but a (mostly) entertaining watch, nevertheless.

I expected this movie to have a bit more blood and gore, considering who made it, but with that said, this is still a pretty good movie all around and I would recommend it to anybody who likes this genre and who is a fan of Takashi Miike. I may have butchered the name. 8/10

Well directed and suburb acting.

Big Fan of the work of Takashi Miike, and this seemed solid, but the subtitles seemed to appear 3/4 seconds before the person spoke, which got confusing and difficult to follow and dialogue heavy scenes with multiple actors.

The subtitles on this need to be fixed. I couldn’t follow the film at all as they don’t follow who is talking.

Be warned: at the 19 minute mark, something strange happens with this film on Amazon Video. The subtitles appear about 3 quarters of a second before anyone speaks. No big deal. It's not that bad. But the drift gradually escalates to the point where, by the hour mark, the subs are appearing on-screen around 4 seconds before anyone speaks. By that point, I found it near impossible to decipher who was saying what in a scene, and reluctantly quit watching.I tried to watch the film from my Fire TV device, Android TV, & Panasonic UHD player, but all had the same out-of-whack subtitles.So, it's not our devices. Other close captioned movies work just fine. People are paying for this, with no easy way to report an issue and get a refund.Get it sorted, Amazon.

An engaging film from start to finish, apart from the short cartoon segment near the end of the film. In interesting insight into the seedier side of Japanese society. Who knew that Japan was actually that scummy in places?