A Tattooed Life (1965)

This, apparently, was the film where Nikkatsu first warned Seijun Suzuki against going overboard. In hindsight that seems strange, especially after seeing Youth of the Beast, against whose gaudy style this initially seemed quite drab; indeed I found myself wondering if the comparative paleness of the colours was a result of an NTSC-to-PAL transfer, but the disc’s running time indicates that’s not it. Anyway, as it went on I came to suspect that was a deliberate aesthetic choice; after all, just look at how strongly those red shoes a certain character wears are emphasised against the relative weakness of the colours around it. Or maybe it is just a mediocre transfer on Madman’s part. The story is set right at the start of the Showa era in 1926, regarding which the author of this post says some interesting things regarding Suzuki’s possible reasons for this particular setting and the things he was trying to say therewith, points that may have been more obvious to Japanese viewers of the day than they were to me. The narrative underlines everything that’s been said about the bog-standard nature of the stories Nikkatsu gave their directors; in this case, two Yakuza brothers go on the run after the family they work for decides to rub one of them out and the other kills the would-be killer. Looking to flee to Manchuria, they wind up doing an honest job with a construction team, a world that shows far greater loyalty than the yakuza life. But, as happens in these situations, the past catches up with them and their former employers won’t let them go so easily. This is all related in somewhat plain fashion until we come to the climactic showdown, and THEN it suddenly becomes apparent why Nikkatsu dressed Suzuki down; for a few glorious moments it’s almost like we’re in another film, and the stylisation of it is made all the more bracing by what’s come before. I didn’t like this nearly as much as Youth of the Beast, though I suspect it might improve with more viewings.