Hatsukoi (2006)

Director:

Yukinari Hanawa

Writers:

Misuzu Nakahara (novel)
Yukinari Hanawa (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 June 2006 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Writer Misuzu Nakahara confesses her involvement in the 300 Million Yen Affair. In the chaotic days of the 1960s...

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title | Based On Novel

Cast

Aoi Miyazaki	...	Misuzu
Keisuke Koide	...	Kishi
Masaru Miyazaki	...	Ryo
Rena Komine	...	Yuka
Tasuku Emoto	...	Takeshi
Munetaka Aoki	...	Tetsu
Yûya Matsuura
Shunji Fujimura	...	Motorcycle seller
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tadahiro Aoki	...	Tetsu
Haruko Wanibuchi

Runtime:

Japan:114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:15

Company:

GAGA

Trivia:

Although the story depicted in the film is fictitious, the crime actually took place on December 10, 1968. The amount stolen in a single crime is still the highest record in Japan (equivalent to today's $2M), and despite more than 100 evidences left behind, with 170,000 policemen against 110,000 suspects spending almost a billion yen in the investigation, nobody was arrested and the stolen money was never found. The investigation was officially closed for prescription in 1975.

Disappointing rendition of an intriguing story

The largest robbery in Japan's history was a decidedly humdrum affair. On December 10th 1968, a police motorbike intercepted a car transporting bonus money to the factories of Toshiba in Fuchu, Tokyo. Convincing the car's occupants that their vehicle had been rigged with explosives, the rider let them scarper and then pinched it, complete with the contents of its trunk: cases containing 300 million yen. Despite a massive investigation, police never apprehended the culprits, and the case was closed in 1975.

That wouldn't be the end of it, though. Over 30 years later, a little-known writer going by the name of Misuzu Nakahara penned Hatsukoi, an autobiographical novel in which she claimed to be the mysterious rider. At the time of the robbery, she was only a high school student.

It's a ripe topic for filming, and Yukinari Hanawa's picture seems to have a lot stacked in its favor: a decent budget, evocative counter-culture settings and indie it-girl du jour Aoi Miyazaki in the title role. We follow Misuzu as, escaping a dismal home life, she starts hanging out with her brother and his mates at a scummy red light district jazz bar. There, she's drawn to the intelligent, aloof Kishi (Keisuke Koide), who buries his nose in books as he harbors plans for a perfect heist.

Plenty of dramatic potential here, then, but Hatsukoi is a curiously enervated piece of work, forever teetering on the brink between subtle and downright dull. Central to its problems is Miyazaki herself: her Misuzu is little more than a cipher, drifting impassively from one situation to the next. We're left with a gaping hole where the heart of this film should be, and the support cast struggle to fill it.

Given that the veracity of the source novel is hotly disputed, too, it seems odd that Hanawa should choose to do such a straight reading. I found myself longing for the ambiguity of, say, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where you were never quite sure if the protagonist was a covert operative or merely a crackpot.