Takashi Miike films

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

‘First Love’: Details Revealed For Takashi Miike’s Cannes-Bound Action-Thriller With RPC & HanWay
By Andreas Wiseman

Andreas Wiseman

Co-International Editor
@AndreasWiseman

April 24, 2019 8:39am


[img=681x0]https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/first-love-poster-e1556120010711.jpg?w=450&h=253&crop=1[/img]
HanWay Films

Details have been released today about Takashi Miike’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight-bound action-thriller First Love.
Set over one night in Tokyo, the film will follow Leo, a young boxer down on his luck as he meets his ‘first love’ Monica, a call girl and an addict but still an innocent. Little does Leo know, Monica is unwittingly caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, and the two are pursued through the night by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin sent by the Chinese Triads. According to the production, all their fates intertwine in “spectacular Miike style, at his most and fun and anarchic.”

The film reunites Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas’ (The Last Emperor) Recorded Picture Company with cult director Miike for the fourth time after their collaborations on Blade of the Immortal, Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai and 13 Assassins. HanWay Films will handle worldwide sales (excluding Asia) and will commence sales at Cannes.

The film is a Japanese/UK collaboration and is produced by Muneyuki Kii, Jeremy Thomas and Misako Saka. It also reunites Miike with many of his regular collaborators including writer Miyabi Nakamura (The Bird People In China), composer Koji Endo (13 Assassins) and cinematographer Nobuyasu Kita (Blade Of The Immortal).

All of us combined, ALL OF DOOM, and we can NOT keep up with this guy.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

That man does not sleep.

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[thatguy]

Hi Floks!

I just got promo'd on FB that this is in theaters now....I've been off the forums for sometime (and trying to cut down on FB time, too), but when I saw it, I thought I'd share. What caught my attention was the old Datsun...  



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sPCSRoP...CPPgi/view

--tg

---

Hi Floks!

I just got promo'd on FB that this is in theaters now....I've been off the forums for sometime (and trying to cut down on FB time, too), but when I saw it, I thought I'd share. What caught my attention was the old Datsun...  



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sPCSRoP...CPPgi/view

--tg

Crap...it looks like it's playing AMC Saratoga tonight at 9:30pm (10 min from now), and two matinees there tomorrow, and then it's off to SF for further showings.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

The non-Rabbit Jojo which I posted about here in 2017 is coming to DVD/BRD

[Drunk Monk]

First Love (2019)
On Hoopla. This is a yakuza noir and it's Miike so it's gonna get sanguineous. A lot of interesting characters, not super deep or complex, but their interactions are tightly woven for one long night of mayhem, and it all comes to a head in a hardware store. There's some fine Miike moments - not as viscerally shocking as he can be sometimes, but nice twists on where things might be going but aren't. Miike's got style. It's yakuza vs tongs, old vendettas, incest, drug addiction, prostitution, brain tumors, decapitations, all mashed together, a slow build into a violent fire fight and some wicked chopping set to some wild free jazz jams. 

Sword fights! A dao vs. Katana finale. DOOM recommended, except for KB, who has lost his taste for gratuitous violence.

[Drunk Monk]

I should add that the sword fight isn't particularly good. It's one take, one move, shot with a jiggly perspective that's hard to follow. The gun play isn't that well choreographed either. The finale fight in the hardware store is shot in the dark and it's hard to tell where the various characters are at any given time. It's just a lot of pew, pew, pew. Miike was shooting for impact - it's where the bullets land (and where the swords cut) that is captivating. One of the villains uses a bag of meth to staunch his wound - hilarity ensues. 

The other element that I really had to focus upon was language - the yakuza speak Japanese and the tong speak Chinese. A few characters speak both and act as translators, which adds a dynamic to the dialog that is interesting but hard to track. While reading the subs, I often got befuddled listening to the dialog too. 

This isn't a great Miike, but it's a good Miike, and I've been needed a dose of Miike to vent my frustrations lately.

[Drunk Monk]

The non-Rabbit Jojo which I posted about here in 2017 is coming to DVD/BRD

Posted a few Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure trailers here. Finally saw it and yes, it’s bizarre.

It's Miike.

It's starts with a new kid at a High School, Koichi, who meets Jojo, who has awesome hair and he gets really pissed if anyone makes fun of it. Turns out Jojo has a Stand, which is this magical CGI mech thing that can blast through people. And there are others with Stands - each with a special power. Jojo can heal others. Then there's this water demon that enters people's mouths and bursts their organs. It's on a killing spree and appears as a little mech thing alll covered with eyes. There's another Stand user with a bow and arrow on a killing spree because sometimes when he kills with that arrow, he creates new stand users. There are other Stand users too. It gets rather complicated. The arch villain Stand creates an army of tiny army men sized soldiers complete with tanks, bazookas and choppers. It's really hard to describe it all. 

Jojo is based on a longstanding manga, an anime, videogames, novels, even a Gucci collab. The original artist was featured in the Louvre.

I enjoyed it despite its convuluted story arcs. The crazy haired stand users all had cool trenchcoats with odd symbols. It caught that manga vibe well.

No sword fights but lots of Stand battles. Recommended for DOOMMiike fans only.