Movie Review - First Love

First Love *** (out of 5) (NR) If this subtitled Japanese film flops at the box office, it will likely be due to its misleading title. One might expect this label to signal the initial lyrical blossoming of adult emotions among the newly post-pubescent, thereby causing its true demographic target - dudes who love violent crime fare - to look elsewhere for their kicks. The title does make sense in context, but more subtly.

We meet a young, aspiring boxer who is told he has a fatal brain tumor. Switch to a girl forced into prostitution to pay off her father’s debt to the Yakuza and her drug habit. Meanwhile, organized crime is losing its grip on the city and the dirty cops they own, with all the clans fighting each other for top dog power, while also fending off a new rival gang from China. When a large batch of cocaine is taken, no one is quite sure of who to blame, or who to trust. The boxer and the girl meet by chance and spend most of the running time, uh... running from all those who mistakenly think they were the culprits. Bodies pile up from many fights involving fists and an assortment of weapons, with little breathing time between them.

If there’s a downside, it’s that the plot may seem almost as confusing to viewers as to the characters, given the number of players and the dark settings throughout one very long night of action. A few double-crosses along the way add to the chaos of keeping up without a scorecard and numbered jerseys. Director Takashi Miike establishes personae for a large group of actors efficiently, and maintains a fast pace for the events of the fatal nightlong chase. He shows surprisingly little blood and gore for the number and manner of woundings and killings. The result is a solid action flick with little enough dialog to keep anyone from missing too much action from reading the subtitles. Just be sure to look at the poster before buying your ticket to make sure you’re getting the genre you want. (10/18/19)