Takashi Miike is one hell of a prolific director.  His versatility across genres makes it a pointless exercise to try and pigeon hole him, a fact evidenced by his latest film, First Love: it’s an all-in-one-night comedy caper film, a yakuza crime film, and a tentative romance about two young people coming together under unlikely circumstances.

The lovers at the center of the film are Leo (Masataka Kubota), an amateur boxer on the rise, and “Monica” – real name Yuri (Sakurako Konishi) – a heroin-addicted sex worker. There is more than meets to the eye to both parties: Leo is diagnosed early on with an inoperable brain tumour, while Yuri is actually an indentured sex slave who is working to pay off her abusive father’s debt. The pair have a violent meet cute when Yuri flees from a date with corrupt detective Otomo (Nao Ōmori) and Leo mistakenly clotheslines the man, believing that he is saving her (in fact she is running away from a recurring hallucination of her father, a symptom of her withdrawal).

Both of these young people begin the film in a kind of developmental limbo. Leo fights because that is what he good at, but he has no passion or fire. Yuri has some substantial daddy issues and needs to learn to believe in herself. The narrative arc of First Love is naturally constructed as a series of obstacles that will help the pair break out of their rut and grow, but conversation around the film will undoubtedly focus on its other qualities, in small part because Leo and Yuri are a little bland, but mostly because they are frequently forced to play the straight man to the madcap craziness surrounding them.

The real fun of First Love is the supporting characters who drive the film’s conflict. Otomo is in cahoots with Kase (Shôta Sometani), a manic low-level member of the yakuza with ambitions to double-cross his crime family, use Otomo to sell the drugs and make off with a quick payday. Kase is a young hothead who fancies himself a big-time player, but his plans are hilariously derailed at every opportunity, leading to increasingly ridiculous and violent incidents as the night progresses.

Initially, the plan is simple: Kase will steal a bag of heroin from Yuri’s pimp, then leave the bag in a locker and blame the theft on the Chinese mafia. This requires Otomo to keep Yuri out for the night and also demands the death of the pimp’s girlfriend, Julie (Becky). When Yuri runs away with Leo and Julie improbably survives her assassination, however, all hell breaks loose, to predictably bloody and comedic result.

Outside of an initial J-horror vibe when Yuri’s hallucinations are first glimpsed, First Love has a pulpy 50s gangster/film noir vibe. Despite the roughly half dozen moving parts common to these kinds of narratives, it is rarely difficult to follow the plot. Aside from the occasional flashback to help flesh out the timeline or offer some backstory, the narrative is relatively streamlined: everything is organized around the pursuit of Yuri, who is inadvertently blamed with the theft of the drugs.

There are several undercooked characters, particularly the two thinly sketched crime bosses, who are unfortunately still given priority in the final battle. This extended action sequence, set in a giant empty hardware store in the middle of the night, is Miike’s sole misstep in the film. Not only are secondary characters given the star treatment at the expense of main characters, the sequence goes on for too long and the pacing lags. Also: considering the bounty of potential weapons lining the shelves, there is far too much reliance on guns. Considering the other set pieces, particularly a car chase in an underground parking lot and an animated sequence (!) late in the film, the hardware store climax suffers by comparison.

The absurd violence and larger than life characters are undoubtedly the main selling feature of First Love, particularly Kase and Julie. The former is a narcissistic idiot (a fantastic combo) whose comedic reactions, particularly to his increasingly large number of wounds, is sheer perfection. The latter is an unexpected delight: Julie starts out as little more than a mean, bossy bitch, but her unlikely perseverance over multiple near-fatal encounters, as well as her hysterical screaming reactions and her proclivity for wielding large pipes and machetes, is sure to make her the film’s most iconic character. Considering how meek and fragile Yuri is, Julie is a great counterpoint.

First Love is a deft blend of genres, including comedy, crime, and (slight) romance, and Miike’s capacity for juggling a half dozen storylines and oddball characters is a testament to his capacity as a writer and director. Fans of his oeuvre may find this film a little more commercially-oriented than some of his other efforts, but for those who have been afraid to dip their toe into his particular brand of crazy, First Love is a very accessible place to start.