7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After his own gang sets him up to kill a rival mobster, a hit man is forced to flee with his younger brother.
Starring: Hideki Takahashi, Akira Yamauchi, Seizaburô Kawazu, Kaku Takashina, Kayo MatsuoForeign | 100% |
Drama | 35% |
Crime | 2% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0 Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Tattooed Life may seem like "just another movie about the yakuza", or at least what commentator William Carroll calls a ninkyo eiga, but it ultimately kind of weirdly morphs into an almost Douglas Sirk-ian type melodrama involving a number of cross relationships between characters. Carroll also helps to contextualize the story with regard to some of the calamitous events in the East in the early twentieth century (the film takes place around 1926), which helps to explain why brothers Tetsu (Hideki Takahashi) and Kenji (Kotobuki Hananomoto) are focused on escaping to Manchuria after an absolutely breathless opening vignette that sees yakuza member Tetsu take out a nemesis, only to be confronted himself, with younger brother Kenzi stepping in unexpectedly to "save the day". Unfortunately, Kenji's heroics are what put the siblings into peril, necessitating "getting out of Dodge". That particular phrase, which is so often used in descriptions of Westerns, may actually be somewhat apt here as well, as Carroll also draws parallels in this film to the vaunted American genre known familiarly as "oaters", even if the timeframe is "wrong" and the national emphasis obviously quite different.
Tattooed Life is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Radiance's insert booklet offers only the following minimal information on the transfer:
Tattooed Life was transferred in high definition by Nikkatsu Corporation and supplied to Radiance Films as a high definition digital file.I haven't been particularly shy about nitpicking some of the "pre delivered" masters that a number of studios like Toei and Nikkatsu have provided to various labels, but this presentation is often quite stunning, offering a really beautifully suffused palette and some appealing detail levels. There are some very minor image stability issues, as in the opening credits sequence, and occasionally blacks can have a just slightly milky brown look, but on the whole imagery is sharp, clear and generally very well detailed. Reds in particular virtually burst off the screen (a repeated visual trope of some important red shoes plays into the plot, but that's not the only example of that particular hue). Occasional anamorphic oddities can be spotted toward the edges of the frame, but none tend to be as "dramatic" as I've noted in reviews of other Japanese or Chinese productions. Grain resolves without any issues, and any age related wear and tear is minor.
Tattooed Life features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Japanese. This is a generally very nicely full bodied track, one that supports some of the interesting scoring, like the bombastic opening theme with brass and drums (which also features a vocalist), or later ambient environmental effects like torrential rain. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
There's almost a "bait and switch" quality to Tattooed Life where violence almost catapults off the screen as the story opens, but then retreats (at least interstitially) for some more florid melodramatics involving the brothers on the lam and some of their "adventures", romantic or otherwise, as they attempt to find safety. Elements of this story are "tried and true", but the entire emotional context is somewhat unusual, even within the "confines" of a ninkyo eiga. Radiance offers secure technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.
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