A yakuza, Tetsutaro “Tetsuo” Murakaami (Hideki Takahashi), kills a higher up, and leaves town with his brother Kenji (Kotobuki Hananomoto). They go by train where they meet Midori Kinosthita (Masako Izumi), who lives in a northern harbor / mining town. The town is where the brothers deal with their mommy issues while having romantic entanglements. These entanglements happen, obviously, with the local women. Midori falls in love with Tetsuo while Kenji falls in love with Masayo (Hiroko Itō), Midori’s married sister in law. That’s all dandy except that the yakuza higher ups are able to find the brothers, assassinating people in town. The brothers have a chance to escape to Manchuria but Kenji’s love for Masayo may put everyone in danger.

This is the plot of Tattooed Life, the first of a few films that got director Sejun Suzuki in trouble. The studio he worked for, Nikkatsu, wrote him a letter to tone down the cinematography – he didn’t back down. I mean, thank God he didn’t, but for the first half hour of this film, I’m looking for idiosyncratic cinematography. The first act looks normally beautiful so far, but I think it’s the plot that fits the definition of idiosyncrasy. Kenji brings up his and Tetsuo’s mother and then drops the subject, one that may have some recurring threads. I mean, it makes sense that these brothers have weird romantic lives, especially Kenji and Masayo, whom he loves to sculpt.

Another aspect of Tattooed Life that becomes more important is that Kenji is supposedly on his way to art school. Tetsuo’s crime puts a kibosh on those plans, but Kenji has hope especially now that Masayo inadvertently becomes his beloved. The film makes me realize the reasons why it’s scandalous for anyone to be an obvious subject in any artwork. The film’s idiosyncrasies also manifest through its editing, as a gunshot rings, targeting Masayo’s husband Yuzo (Akira Yamanouchi). The film cits from that scene to a blast in one of the mines, putting a target on the brothers. For some reason, the town’s businessmen care more about the blast than the gunshot, the brothers becoming suspects either way. 

Tattooed Life has its share of tropes but after all, most genre have its share of tropes familiar to viewers. Again, the brothers have a chance to escape to Manchuria but Kenji has to see Masayo one last time. Back to the idiosyncrasies, I was waiting for those to appear but Kenji’s actions are partly the reason they appear. Spoiler alert, the yakuza get to Kenji and kill him, giving Tetsuo no choice but to avenge his death. What that happens, the sky turns blood red, and nothing gets me going than pathetic fallacy manifesting itself on film. Things become beautifully weird, and this becomes the kind of film that’s controversial duiring its time but influential later on.

Tattooed Life comes soon on OVID.