Synopsis
Seijun Suzuki’s Japanese yakuza film “Irezumi Ichidai” a.k.a. “Tattooed Life” was released in 1965 and is centered around themes of loyalty, identity and redemption. The story revolves around Tetsu, a professional assassin, and Kenji his younger brother who is an enthusiastic painter. One of their missions is botched, resulting in the death of a yakuza leader, and the two brothers seek to escape the situation by fleeing and taking refuge on a tunnel work. As they try to revitalize their lives, their former associations and the scars from their past slowly but surely undermine their pursuit of peace and anonymity.
Awards & Wins
The penetration of the world could not be noticed in “Tattooed Life” when it was released since it did not receive significant international awards, but over the years, the film has been praised for its stylized direction and story. Students study the movie for its experimental cinematography and the different treatment of its yakuza themes by Suzuki.
Cast & Crew
– Director: Seijun Suzuki
– Writers: Kei Hattori, Kinya Naoi
– Producer: Masayuki Takagi
– Cast:
– Hideki Takahashi as Tetsutaro Murakami
– Masako Izumi as Midori Kinoshita
– Kayo Matsuo as Oyuki
– Akira Yamauchi as Kenji Murakami
– Kaku Takashina as Tsuneyoshi Kotobuki
IMDb Ratings
At the present time, “Tattooed Life” enjoys the IMDb rating of 7.1/10, which is based on more than 1,100 user votes and reviews.
Personal Insights
“Tattooed Life” is an example of Suzuki’s directing artistry considering the fact that he decorates his films with attention-grabbing views, and constantly breaks the rules of storytelling. It is easy to feel the emotional relationship of the main characters in the film about brotherhood and their longing to move away from the past while fulfilling the cast with powerful maneuvers. Furthermore, the incorporation of colors, and framing by the director, distorts the actual nature of the story – a typical movie encompassing a yakuza, in the direction that Suzuki wanted – set himself above all of the directors. Witnessing the rapid-paced climax of the film with breathtaking photos is quite satisfying, such liberation of cinematic techniques was indeed possessed by Suzuki.
Cultural Significance
In addition to increasing the number of yakuza films, “Tattooed Life” is quite critical as it removes the falsification of characters simply being voracious criminals in need of pardon. Suzuki’s ideas out-of-the-box offered to further filmmakers shaped and inspired future genre filmmakers.
The universal themes of identity, loyalty, and inevitability of history in the film perspectives can be understood throughout the world, across cultures and time, and this is the reason why the film is relevant.