[FIRST LOVE screens Friday November 22nd
at 9:00 pm and Saturday November 23rd at 9:25 pm at the Cleveland
Cinematheque.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
As FIRST LOVE (Hatsukoi) begins, a severed
head rolls into the middle of the street and blinks in shock. It’s the kind of moment
one expects from prolific Japanese cult director Takashi Miike (ICHI THE
KILLER, GOZU, 13 ASSASSINS, HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI,
and so many others).
Written by frequent Miike collaborator Masa Nakamura, FIRST
LOVE crams a small army of characters and just about every noir and yakuza
movie trope one can think of into its script. Double crosses and twists abound,
but the complex plot of can be boiled down thusly: Leo (Masataka Kubota), a boxer
told that he is dying from a brain tumor, saves Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a prostitute
and drug addict, from corrupt police officer Otomo (Nao Ōmori), who is trying
to kill her as part of a scheme to steal drugs from the Yakuza.
