jmaruyama Miike Takashi's "Ai To Makoto" (Love and Truth/Sincerity AKA "For Love's Sake") is an ambitious romantic drama whose novel movie musical approach may leave some audiences scratching their heads but is none-the-less an entertaining and enjoyable film if somewhat goofy at times. This isn't the first film adaptation of prolific manga writer Kajikawa Ikki's ("Ashita No Joe", "Tiger Mask") classic 1974 "seishun" (youth) love story series. Shochiku Studios released a three-part film series from 1974-1976 featuring 70s Japanese pop singing star Saijo Hideki as the heroic Taiga Makoto (in the later films Nanjou Koji and Kano Ryu would take over the role) and in a somewhat shameless gimmick an actress actually named Saotome Ai" portraying the series heroine of the same name. About that same time a TV drama series was also produced featuring Natsu Yusuke and Ikegami Kimiko in the title roles. Both adaptations did a good job at bringing writer Kajikawa and artist Nagayasu Takumi's landmark manga series to life. The tragic love story between a bad-boy rebel and a privileged and naive rich girl was rich in melodrama, teen angst and 70s anti-establishment rebelliousness which resonated much among young readers. Although not as groundbreaking as his "Ashita No Joe" (which was also recently adapted into a feature film), "Ai To Makoto" still earned a devoted fan following over the years since. Which brings us to Miike's latest adaptation of the manga series which is quite a departure from his usual eclectic work. Although Miike is often known for his dark, twisted, bloody, "grindhouse-like" earlier works like "Ichi The Killer", "Audition" and "Gozu", he has in recent years shown much range and diversity by branching out into a wide variety of different projects with more mainstream appeal like "Ace Attorney", "Crows Zero", "Yatterman" and "13 Assassins". "Ai To Makoto" is not Miike's only foray into the movie musical genre as he delivered a fairly interesting example with his "Katakuri-ke no kôfuku AKA The Happiness of the Katakuris" (2001) which could only be described as a "murder musical" along the lines of Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd". "Ai No Makoto" is a pretty unique film as offhand, I can't really recall any recent examples of Japanese film Musicals equivalent to "Mama Mia", "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Moulin Rouge". Miike's "Ai To Makoto" seems to be inspired a lot by Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" (1996). Not only do they share a similar look and feel but they also oddly enough share a similar "star-crossed lovers" type of storyline as well.Like that film, the musical numbers include a number of familiar songs which are covered by the cast. Unless you lived in Japan during the 70s or are a fan of "kayokyoku" (Japanese Pop and folk music), foreign audiences may not really identify with the "Ai To Makoto's" soundtrack which reads like a play list for 70s Japan. While we don't get any iconic songs from Pink Lady, Yamaguchi Momoe or Candies, we do get some minor classics like Nishikino Akira's "Sora No Taiyo Ga Aru Kagari", Kawashima Eigo's "Sake To Namida To Ottoko To Onna" and the late Ozaki Kiyohiko's "Mata Au Hi Made" (my personal favorite). By the way, the song that another reviewer mentioned sounds similar to Kaji Mieko's "Urami Bushi" is Sono Mari's "Yume Wa Yoru Hiraku" (1966), a song that was covered by a number of artists in the 70s including Fuji Keiko (JPop singing star Utada Hikaru's mom). Miike along with screenwriter Takuma Takayuki have taken some liberties with Kajikawa's original story for the interest of plot development and time. A number of major villains in the series including the sadistic whip wielding thug Sado Shun and Gonta's Yakuza crime-lord father Zaoh Yohei are also missing unfortunately.Miike's direction is consistently great. He has a wonderful stylistic flair and definitely puts it to good use in the film. The cast is superb. Tsumabuki Satoshi ("Villain") impresses once again with yet another very challenging role. With his pretty boy good looks and rebel attitude, Tsumabuki does a good job of bringing to life the somewhat unlikeable character of Makoto. Although he only has one major song/dance sequence, Tsumabuki does showoff some good singing skills with his rendition of Saijo Hideki's "Hageshi Koi", the film's eye-opening beginning number. Takei Emi whose credits include mostly TV dramas like "W no Higeki" and "Liar Game" is also fantastic in this her first feature film. She brings just the right amount of girlish charm and naiveté to her role and she is absolutely fetching as the appropriately named character of "Ai" (love). While her rendition of Kitayama Masashi/Kato kazuhiko's "No Subarashi Ai O Mo Ichido" seemed a bit off-key, Takei's overall performance in the rest of the film was pretty good. The rest of the supporting cast was also exceptional including Saito Takumi ("Uchusenkan Yamato") who portrays Ai's classmate, the academically brilliant but hopelessly awkward Iwashima Hiroshi, who secretly longs for her; fashion model turned actress Ito Ono, who portrays the beautiful but emotionally cold Takahara Yuki, leader of the "Hana Zone Sukeban Girls Gang" whose deadly skill with throwing knives is to be feared; and Ihara Tsuyoshi ("NINJA", "JINGI") who portrays the hulking basher Zaoh Gonta. His rendition of the theme song to the 60's anime series "Okami Shonen Ken" is hilarious. Ando Sakura ("Lifeline", "Torso") is a standout as the wacky "Gum-Ko", a Sukeban with a heart.Who would have thought Miike could craft a nostalgic and sentimental love story. Those who think Miike has mellowed out and softened however should take comfort in knowing that he returns to his darker side with the just recently released "Aku No Kyoten" (AKA Lessons of Evil) an adaptation of Kishi Yusuke's violent thriller.

PKazee Very definitely worth seeing, Miike's latest starts out wonderfully strong, but tends to bog down during the middle third of its 131 minute running time. Though based on a manga, this is also a clever send-up of romantic/tragic musicals that - at its best - sets hilariously cheesy dance numbers to vintage Japanese pop songs (one song sounds very much like a variation on "Urami Bushi", aka "The Grudge Song", popular from both the film FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION 701, and from KILL BILL: Vol. 2, while another song would appear to be the title theme to 60's TV cartoon, WOLF BOY KEN). FOR LOVE'S SAKE (the international festival title) also features a lot of violent, over-the-top fight scenes, perhaps too many of which involve the male heartthrob nearly punching the life out of a adoring schoolgirls (I found these scenes a bit repetitive after a while). Still, despite it's drawbacks, fans of Miike will not want to miss this one.

junktrashgarbage Very definitely worth seeing, Miike's latest starts out wonderfully strong, but tends to bog down during the middle third of its 131 minute running time. Though based on a manga, this is also a clever send-up of romantic/tragic musicals that - at its best - sets hilariously cheesy dance numbers to vintage Japanese pop songs (one song sounds very much like a variation on "Urami Bushi", aka "The Grudge Song", popular from both FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION 701 and KILL BILL: Vol. 2, while another would appear to be the theme song to the 60's TV cartoon show, WOLF BOY KEN). FOR LOVE'S SAKE also features a lot of violent, over-the-top fight scenes, perhaps too many of which involve the male heartthrob nearly punching the life out of a adoring schoolgirls (I found these scenes a bit repetitive after a while). Still, despite it's drawbacks, fans of Miike will not want to miss this one.

Alison "For Love's Sake" is director Takashi Miike's take on musicals; but Miike is known for his genre-bending films, whether he's skewering the Western ("Sukiyaki Western Django") or Japanese horror ("One Missed Call") or historical epic ("13 Assassins," his most straightforward film I think). So "For Love's Sake," as you might expect, isn't like any other musical you've seen.Ai (Emi Takai) is a wealthy schoolgirl, attending a posh private high school where she is first in her class for everything; Makoto (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is your quintessential Bad Boy, from the wrong side of the tracks and reeking with a bad attitude. All Makoto wants to do is sneer and fight, and he's completely indifferent to who he fights - boys, girls, old people, he'll take on anyone who looks at him the wrong way. Ai and Makoto have a secret history, one that means that Ai will do anything to help Makoto, but she wants more than anything for him to stop fighting. Of course, he won't and he very quickly is sent to reform school; Ai pulls some strings (via her father) and gets Makoto out of juvie and into her high school, where he lasts all of five seconds before heading to the nihilistic trade school, run by girl-gang boss Gumko. Makoto gets himself into hot water there too, but what he doesn't know is that Gumko isn't the true leader of the school, and when he gets on the wrong side of the *real* leader, he's really in trouble....But yes, of course, it's a love story - aren't all musicals? A love story with very catchy J-pop tunes circa 1972 (when the film is set), including amusingly choreographed song-and-dance numbers, and with numerous breaks for extreme violence. The violence is so over-the-top, though, that you don't believe it for a second and instead it becomes funny, in a slapstick kinda way. Except when it doesn't - there are a few scenes here where the tone shifts from melodramatic hyperactivity to something darker and less fizzy, if I can use that term. At 133 minutes running time, I felt it had perhaps two or three more fight scenes than necessary and, sadly, fewer songs than I'd have liked, but the actors are all fine (fine singers too!) and that slightly surreal sense that seems to accompany Japanese films make "For Love's Sake" the perfect start to FantAsia 2012 here in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.