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First Love

First Love

Crime · Action · Comedy · 2019

One night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, meets his first love, Monica, an imprisoned sex worker. Caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, they find themselves pursued by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin.

Movie details

First Love

2019 Crime · Action · Comedy 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

One night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, meets his first love, Monica, an imprisoned sex worker. Caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, they find themselves pursued by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over First Love?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Bad City

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Kensuke Sonomura directs the legendary Hitoshi Ozawa in this ultimate V-Cinema actioner. Kaiko City is plagued with poverty and crime. When a corrupt businessman decides to run for mayor and starts eliminating opponents from the rival mafia, a former police captain serving time for murder is secretly released and put in charge of a special task force to arrest him.

Sex and Fury

Sex and Fury

Action · 1973

Sex & Fury chronicles Ocho's exploits as she searches for her father's killers, each identified by unique tattoos on their backs (a deer, a boar, and a butterfly). Along the way, she also crosses paths with Shunosuke, a radical set on murdering prominent politician Kurokawa, and Christina, an American spy posing as a gambler.

Branded to Kill

Branded to Kill

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After botching his latest assignment, a third-ranked Japanese hit man becomes the target of another assassin.

Sonatine

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Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.

Avengement

Avengement

Crime · 2019

While on a prison furlough, a lowly criminal evades his guards and returns to his old stomping ground to take revenge on the people who turned him into a cold blooded killer.

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear

Ninja: Shadow of a Tear

Action · 2013

Fight everyone and trust no one: it's the code of survival practiced by martial-arts master Casey Bowman after his life of domestic bliss is shattered by a savage act of violence. Vowing revenge, the fearless American stealthily tracks the killer from Osaka to Bangkok to Rangoon with the help of a wise and crafty sensei. His only clues: a series of victims whose necks bear the distinctive mark of strangulation by barbed wire. Fighting to avenge as well as to survive, Casey must sharpen his razor-like responses and take his battle skills to the next level, even using deep meditation to fake his own death. His target: the sinister drug lord Goro, who is flooding the streets with deadly meth cooked at his remote jungle factory. To prepare for his ultimate confrontation, Casey must finally become an invisible warrior worthy of the name Ninja. But just when his prey is cornered, an unexpected twist shows Casey that his battle is only beginning: he truly can trust no one.

The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints

Action · 1999

Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

Dragged Across Concrete

Dragged Across Concrete

Crime · 2019

Two policemen, one an old-timer, the other his volatile younger partner, find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics becomes the media's cause du jour. Low on cash and with no other options, these two embittered soldiers descend into the criminal underworld to gain their just due, but instead find far more than they wanted awaiting them in the shadows.

Death Wish 3

Death Wish 3

Action · 1985

Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Takashi Miike

Written by

Masaru Nakamura · Muneyuki Kii

Masataka Kubota

Masataka Kubota

Leo Katsuragi

Nao Omori

Nao Omori

Ōtomo

Shota Sometani

Shota Sometani

Kase

Sakurako Konishi

Sakurako Konishi

Monica

Becky

Becky

Julie

Takahiro Miura

Takahiro Miura

Yasu

Mami Fujioka

Mami Fujioka

Chiachi

Court is in session

Put First Love on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.