SPOILERS!
For Love's Sake (or Ai to Makoto) is a recent Takashi Miike production that is as equally adorable as it is preposterous. Some people will think it is a wonderfully brilliant piece of comedy, while others will be left asking themselves WTF was that piece of pointless indulgent crap they just watched?...Personally, I loved it, but it is clearly not going to work for everyone.
Your story here involves a young rich high school girl who falls for the poor bad boy outsider from the wrong side of town. She's determined to change his self destructive ways and become his girlfriend no matter what she must do. Along the way, she must contend with various love interests, high school gangs, evil plots, and other roadblocks to win his heart. Simple enough!...Oh, and it's a musical infused with typical Miike style!
The fact that this film is a musical is almost beside the point. At its heart, this film is a straight up parody of an amalgam of movies, and, it is exceptionally well done in that aspect. The problem lies with the fact that you must have a real solid familiarity with, and likely some fondness for, the movies and genres it is satirizing, or it just won't make any sense at all. In essence, you will either "get it", & it therefore might connect with you, or not. If you do "get it" though, you're likely going to enjoy it.
I found this story, and the movie in general, to be both inventive and hilarious. Several of the people I watched it with were baffled by this however. I was asked several times what was so funny, only to clumsily attempt to reference other Miike films/typical high school girl angst tales/standard Asian melodrama fare/wrist cutter send ups/Japanese gangster themes/manga adaptions/etc, in order to try to explain the humor behind it all.
This film takes it time getting started, and it's longer than it should be. But, it's worth it big time for the right moviegoer. By the time the final act rolls around, and all ludicrous plot points converge, this is one magnificently sardonic steamroller running on all cylinders; the male lead is busy beating up every guy and girl in sight while racing to reconnect with his estranged mother before she commits suicide, the 2 female leads are obliviously determined to act out their own preconceived notions of how they think events were destined to unfold (regardless of what is actually going on around them), the 40 year old student is seeking to lay claim as the toughest high school gangster in town once and for all, the nerd is trying to save his love while not losing her to the cool guy hero, and, on it goes. Meanwhile, everyone is going about their business with over the top musical flair.
From the performances, to the story, to the wonderful set designs, this film accomplishes exactly what it set out to achieve. Even the musical numbers were obviously & deliberately dubbed in post production just to add one more comical oddity to the whole experience.
Indeed, this is not a film for everyone; I can think of only a select few acquaintances I would even try to bother recommending this to. And, it is almost certain to draw wildly varying ratings and opinions, depending on the viewer. For those of you who think you know what you're likely in for though, it is well recommended!
7 out of 10 stars.
