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Irezumi Ichidai
Tattooed Life
Japan 1965
produced by
Masayuki Takagi for Nikkatsu
directed by Seijun Suzuki
starring Hideki Takahashi, Akira Yamauchi, Hiroko Ito, Masako Izumi, Kayo Matsuo, Hosei Komatsu, Yuji Odaka, Michio Hino, Kotobuki Hananomoto, Hiroshi Chiyoda, Hiroshi Cho, Kosuke Hisamatsu, Masaaki Honme, Take Ikezawa, Seizaburo Kawazu, Wataru Kobayashi, Hiroshi Kono, Midori Mori, Tessen Nakahira, Yoko Naka, Keisuke Noro, Zenpei Saga, Eiko Takada, Akira Takahashi, Hiroshi Takao, Kaku Takashina, Shiro Toba, Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, Shiro Yanase, Yoko Yokota
screenplay by Kei Hattori, Kinya Naoi, music by Masayoshi Ikeda, production design by Takeo Kimura
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Yakuza Tetsu (Hideki Takahashi) wants nothing more to keep his brother
Kenji (Kotobuki Hananomoto) out of the Yakuza and thus pays for his
education at art school - as Kenji sees his true vocation in being a
painter anyways. However, eventually, an attempt is made on Tetsu's life,
and Kenji kills the assailant to save his brother ... and suddenly the two
of them find themselves on the run. They want to make a getaway to
Manchuria, but are tricked out of their money by a conman, Yamano (Hosei
Komatsu), so they are left with no other option to work on Yuzo Kinoshita's (Akira Yamauchi) construction site - and boss
Yuzo is quick to
trust them, even though they have no credentials and the police seems to
be closing in on them. Tetsu soon falls in love with Yuzo's sister
Midori (Masako Izumi) - and that's where the trouble starts, as Yuzo's
foreman Ezaki (Yuchi Edaka) wants the girl from himself and now starts
scheming against not only Tetsu but Kinoshita's whole company by throwing
in with his arch rival, Yakuza Yugoro (Seizaburo Kawazu) ... that Kenji falls in love with none
other than Yuzo's wife Masayo (Hiroko Ito) doesn't help one bit either of
course. However, when Yuzo finds out that Tetsu is a Yakuza, he helps him
and Kenji to get away and even gives them some money - and they are almost
on a boat to Manchuria, too, when Kenji suddenly has the urge to see
Masayo one last time ... and Tetsu lets him - something Kenji doesn't
survive once he crosses paths with conman Yamano, who by now works for boss
Yugoro. Tetsu himself finds Kenji dying, and with his last breath, Kenji
tells him that Yuzo and his wife are held captive by Yugoro - so Tetsu
goes to Yugoro's place, to slaughter him and his entire gang
single-handedly ... The last scene shows Tetsu in handcuffs in fron of
Kenji's grave - who can now rest in peace now that he is avenged. When a
cop leads him away, Midori tells Tetsu she will wait for him, however long
it takes. In writing, Tattooed Life might sound like
little more than your typical slightly cheesy Yakuza flick from the
1960's, with all genre elements firmly in place - but the film's
incredibly stylized imagery, its lush primary colours, its atmospheric use
of music, its carefully composed camera setups make the film quite
memorable. Yet it's not so much its elegance that make the movie into
something special but Seijun Suzuki's typical exaggerations that
self-consciously border the abstract, his playfulness that almost goes
into surreal territory and his healthy disregard of both common cinematic
language and genre conventions - and thus, this little yakuza flick,
firmly rooted in genre tradition, is at the same time a highly unusual
work of art, on a metaphysical level. Recommended.
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