For Love's Sake

Miike Takashi's versatility needn't really surprise us, yet the great contrast with Lesson of the Evil, Miike's other film at the IFFR this year, is sharp to put it mildly. Blood, bullets and screaming have given way to the song and dance of the exuberant For Love's Sake, in which love reigns supreme.
The story is inspired by a popular manga from the 1970s by Ikki Kajiwara: The Legend of Love and Sincerity, which you could call the Japanese West Side Story. The respectable rich girl Ai falls for the hooligan Makoto, a boy from the lower class who saved her when she had a skiing accident. Ai does everything - almost as a slave - to help him climb the ladder, but you can’t tame a wildcat.
The impossible love unfolds in a richly designed setting filled with choreographed fights, slapstick violence, campy musical numbers with Bollywood dance and an animation here and there. Old-fashioned enjoyment. Also see Lesson of the Evil.