Are you ready for prolific Japanese auteur Takashi Miike's latest, FIRST LOVE? This film is Miike (the mastermind behind AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER, BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, and about 100 other titles) at his most fun and anarchic, a noir-tinged yakuza film blending genres in the story of a young boxer and a call girl, who fall passionately in love while getting innocently caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one wildnight in Tokyo. Starring Masataka Kubota, Nao Omori, Shota Sometani, Sakurako Konishi.

"This hard-boiled piece of pulp fiction thaws into a hysterically violent absurdist comedy about the implosion of the Japanese underworld." (IndieWire)

"FIRST LOVE is mostly remarkable for renewing once again the apparently infinitely renewable resource that is Miike's filmmaking energy." (Variety)

"The Tarantino-style rollercoaster ride is as effortlessly enjoyable as ever, accentuating the director's lighter comic leanings over his bloodthirsty side." (Hollywood Reporter)

"What's black and red all over? A noir-tinged yakuza film by Japanese iconoclast Takashi Miike, of course." (The Playlist)

"Full-bore filmic frenzy as only Miike can make." (Sight and Sound)

Tuesday, November 5
Doors 9:00 pm | Movie 9:15 pm *Showtime subject to change.
Advance tickets $13 | $13 at the door

*Minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

FIRST LOVE "Hatsukoi" (Takashi Miike, 2019 / 108 mins / NR / Japanese with English subs) A young boxer and a call girl get caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one night in Tokyo.