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Directed by: Suzuki Seijun Starring: Hideki Takahashi Set in Depression era Japan, Tatooed Life is about a pair of brothers (Tetsu and Kenji) who flee from their home to Manchuria after one of them kills a yakuza in self-defense after an assassination attempt. On their way, they are swindled out of their money, so they have to find work to earn enough money to make the trip. Despite being drifters with no form of identification, they manage to find jobs at a family-operated construction company, working in a mine. However, the yakuza family of the thug they killed before comes looking for them, and tries to expose the pair after they find them working in the mine. The brothers try to escape, but their past eventually catches up with them, forcing them to decide between fighting back or fleeing once again. Noticeably absent for a large part of the film is Suzuki’s famous “free-jazz” style, which only begins to emerge towards the last third of the film, as it build to the impressive final showdown. The first hour or so could have easily been helmed by a computer, as it is entirely formulaic in its approach to the yakuza genre (the film noir of Japan), using almost all of the clichés audiences would be familiar with. Perhaps Suzuki thought that a simple directing style would enhance the finale by contrast, but it really just drags the film down (which already suffers from a pretty dull story). Ironically, the subdued style makes the narrative easier to follow than other films by Suzuki, so this might serve as a good introduction to his work or to the yakuza genre for newcomers. However, the climatic battle between Tetsu and the other yakuza makes the rest of the movie worth sitting through. Aside from the lack of blood and gore, it’s very similar to the “Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves” chapter in Kill Bill, as Tetsu single-handedly battles an army of yakuza thugs to rescue his boss and his wife from the leader of another clan. Almost all of the film’s energy is captured in this sequence, as Tetsu sneaks into the yakuza complex, then tears through the guards, and eventually facing off against the head boss in a great display of carnage and sword-play. The sound effects are very different than other yakuza/samurai films, such as the Baby Cart series or Kurosawa’s samurai epics, which is a bit distracting at first, but quickly becomes unnoticeable. Suzuki’s musical-influenced lightning strategy is at work, giving the action an opera or mythological like quality. Like Suzuki’s other films, the acting style and the characters are very Japanese in nature, and might be too foreign to audiences unfamiliar with the yakuza genre or Japanese film outside of Kurosawa and Ozu. As Tetsu, Takahashi carries the film in terms of acting, showing both the brutality and humanity of his character, as he battles thugs and cares for his brother without allowing the inconstancies affect his performance. Other staples of the Japanese studio system are present, such as the bumbling fool, the lovelorn woman and the deceitful intellectual. Yakuza films have similar character archetypes to the American Western, and it’s easier to understand the cast of characters and their contect with this in mind. RATING: 3.0 PROS: great battle towards the end CONS: Suzuki's style is absent for most of the film ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059320/
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Jun 6, 2004 01:54
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Pretty good. Not wall-to-wall insane like Branded to Kill, but quite audacious at times. Worth watching once, would possibly return to it again someday. Rating: 3.5
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Feb 11, 2005 18:47
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I recently rewatched this and it is so much better the second time around. I think on my initial viewing I was to busy waiting for the Suzuki touch to actually enjoy the film for what it is. There's a lot of play on giri vs. ninjo conventions of the yakuza genre, and the two main characters, Tetsu and Kenji, basically try to recreate a traditional family unit, with Kenji looking for a mother figure (echoing both Oedipus and The Tale of Genji) and Tetsu assuming the father role. I guess I'll up my rating to a 4.
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Feb 12, 2005 04:08
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