Hatsukoi (2019)

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Torgo
Nice, chaotic yakuza pulp flick, riddled with maverick characters and detours after a scheme goes wrong. There is always something happening, so you're safe to not be bored in the 1:50 hours. I'm just missing a tad more of the craziness Takashi Miike used to be infamous for; some situations are violent and grotesque, but nowhere near Ichi-level. Maybe next time, Takashi, please? .. 3 years 3 months ago
Siskoid
In Takashi Miike's First Love, a young apathetic boxer and a broken girl sold into indentured sexual service to a drug dealer are on the run a couple guys try to steal the latter's stash and everything goes tits up, with various criminal gangs converging on the framed kids. It's a wild little chase and Miike, as usual, knows how to hurt and kill his characters in ways that are clever, original, and humorously disturbing. It's not top-tier Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer, 13 Assassins), but it's extremely entertaining, and of course, visually very cool, with its neon-drenched streets, hyper-violence, and even a bit of animation. It's also intriguing how the "first love" in the title really isn't referring to the two leads despite the growing closeness you can expect from such circumstances. For him, it's boxing, but he has yet to really connect it to a passion. For her, it's a boy from school who represents her life before everything went to hell. 7 months 3 weeks ago