When you have an action film, such as “First Love,” that follows the love story between a drug-addicted callgirl and a terminally ill boxer, you have to wonder what type of filmmaker would come up with such a premise. But then when you hear that the filmmaker is Takasi Miike, you’ll likely say, “Yep, totally makes sense.”
Miike has never been the type of filmmaker to play it safe and stay within the confines of specific genres or tropes. So, when you watch the new trailer for “First Love” and you see just a taste of the filmmaker’s latest seemingly insane thriller, it equally feels like something brand-new and exciting while also being firmly in the comfort zone of Miike.
We saw the film when it premiered earlier this year and raved about it, saying the director is “at his most engaged, playful and coherent” in “First Love.”
As mentioned, “First Love” is brought to you by writer-director Takashi Miike. He’s a legendary Japanese filmmaker that has no shortage of classic action films under his belt, including “Sukiyaki Western Django,” “Visitor Q,” “Ichi the Killer,” and the action film trilogy “Dead or Alive.” This film stars Masataka Kubota, Shôta Sometani, and Nao Ohmori.
“First Love” premiered as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will screen at the upcoming TIFF. However, if you can’t catch it at one of the festivals, the film will be released in select theaters on September 27.
Here’s the synopsis:
When a duplicitous scheme by the low-level yakuza, Kase (Shota Sometani) goes hilariously wrong, a terminally ill boxer, Leo (Masataka Kubota), and a disturbed drug addicted call girl, Monica (Sakurako Konishi), find themselves innocently caught in the crosshairs of two warring gangs. Over the course of the increasingly ludicrous night, the two fall passionately in love, while the hail of bullets and blood fall quietly in the background. From prolific auteur Takashi Miike, this noir-tinged, violent yakuza film, is Miike at his most fun and anarchic.
