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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.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

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Robots and rats,
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love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

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Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
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a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
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Tales to Chill
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the new anthology by
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