First Love (5 Stars)

This is the 39th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

I don't understand Quentin Tarantino. He says that he'll only make ten films, because directors get worse as they get older, and they'll only be remembered for their most recent bad films. That's utter nonsense! Look at Takashi Miike. This is his 103rd film, and he's still making excellent films. I'd say that he's improving with age, because I don't like the films that he made in the 1990's.

Leo is a young, successful boxer who's thrown into a world beyond his imagination. He rescues a prostitute who's running away from a policeman, not knowing what he's getting himself into. Two corrupt policeman have a plan to steal drugs from a Japanese gang. The prostitute, Monica, lives with the gang, so a policeman has hired her services all night in order to set her up as the thief. One of the gang members is unexpectedly in the house, and the other policeman shoots him. A Chinese gang is blamed for the attack.

This leads to an all-out war between Japanese gangs, Chinese gangs and the police, with Leo caught in the middle. He's fallen in love with Monica, and he'll do anything to protect her from harm.

The final scenes are the total insanity that we're used to from Takashi Miike. I'm glad he didn't stop after ten films.