"First Love" seems to be a classic example of a film that attempts to do so much, and in the end does too little. The story centers around a boxer who falls in love with a prostitute, a war between the Chinese and Japanese mafias, a heist gone wrong, and a woman out for revenge. There are sequences that could be taken out of "The Grudge" or "It Follows." There are scenes that feel directly out of a hard-boiled Yakuza action film; some parts even reminded me of "Pulp Fiction." There's a lot going on in "First Love," unfortunately so much that the movie never finds its footing.
Between the love story, the redemption narrative, the mafia drama, the tale of revenge, and the heist gone awry, there are four movies worth of material in this one-hour and forty minute long film. And with a title like "First Love," the romance is remarkably underdeveloped because of how much content this movie tries to deliver on. Because of this, I found it very difficult to relate to any one character or situation - so much was happening at any given time that the movie started to feel very disjoined; there was never an emotional anchor for me that hooked my viewing experience. I found myself getting bored often, not being engaged by the characters, nor by the action. And how could I be absorbed in the action when nothing made me care about the characters?
The movie has a very Tarantino feel to it, as it jumps from character to character as things just go from bad to worse. The heist gone wrong sequences in the beginning were the most entertaining for me; characters have to improvise quickly to get out of or away from bad situations, and as they make increasingly poor choices, the situations become increasingly more absurd and dire - it made for fun viewing, but unfortunately, the movie felt very unenergized.
For a film that has so much happening, it's amazing how lifeless everything feels. There is a lack of music that absolutely doesn't fit the ridiculous tone of the film, making everything feel slower than it should. Even when the movie attempts a late-film editing trick during a car chase, filled with vibrant colors and anime-like visuals, it comes so late in the film and is unprecedented, with nothing like that ever occurring beforehand, that it felt like a lazy way to add some fun - too little, too late.
"First Love" is a swing and a miss from Takashi Miike. It's a good looking film for sure, and I enjoyed its style and experiencing a different culture than my own. However, the lack of energy and character development, and the over abundance of content without an emotional anchor to tie everything together made me disengaged from the story, and not care about its characters.
Between the love story, the redemption narrative, the mafia drama, the tale of revenge, and the heist gone awry, there are four movies worth of material in this one-hour and forty minute long film. And with a title like "First Love," the romance is remarkably underdeveloped because of how much content this movie tries to deliver on. Because of this, I found it very difficult to relate to any one character or situation - so much was happening at any given time that the movie started to feel very disjoined; there was never an emotional anchor for me that hooked my viewing experience. I found myself getting bored often, not being engaged by the characters, nor by the action. And how could I be absorbed in the action when nothing made me care about the characters?
The movie has a very Tarantino feel to it, as it jumps from character to character as things just go from bad to worse. The heist gone wrong sequences in the beginning were the most entertaining for me; characters have to improvise quickly to get out of or away from bad situations, and as they make increasingly poor choices, the situations become increasingly more absurd and dire - it made for fun viewing, but unfortunately, the movie felt very unenergized.
For a film that has so much happening, it's amazing how lifeless everything feels. There is a lack of music that absolutely doesn't fit the ridiculous tone of the film, making everything feel slower than it should. Even when the movie attempts a late-film editing trick during a car chase, filled with vibrant colors and anime-like visuals, it comes so late in the film and is unprecedented, with nothing like that ever occurring beforehand, that it felt like a lazy way to add some fun - too little, too late.
"First Love" is a swing and a miss from Takashi Miike. It's a good looking film for sure, and I enjoyed its style and experiencing a different culture than my own. However, the lack of energy and character development, and the over abundance of content without an emotional anchor to tie everything together made me disengaged from the story, and not care about its characters.