Tattoo

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Tattoo; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.25 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 6.00 out of 10.00

Not being a great Bruce Dern fan, I hesitated in watching Tattoo. Being filmed in 1981, I was unsure how they could produce a decent horror film based on Tattoos. Well, they couldn't. It's a dark thriller about yet another "broken" man.

The writers give us the story of Karl Kinsky, a tattoo artist who fell in love with the Japanese style of body painting when he served in the navy. Not only does Karl promote the Japanese style, but he's also captivated by its history, myths and legends. His work is skilled and superbly detailed. Due to his talent, his work is brought to the attention of a magazine photographer. Kinsky's ink could be something special for his next feature. The job brings him in contact with Maddy. A model who could be his muse, who could be his next canvas. Her skin and body are perfect. Bob Brooks and Joyce Bunuel, the writers, give the audience a slow and plausible slide into obsession and mania. Kinsky is a loner and awkward with women. He's brusque, single-minded, and quick to anger. When he gets angry, it's easy to see Kinsky isn't a man to cross. There's a disturbing scene in a restaurant when a self-obsessed obnoxious blatherer invites himself to sit at their table because he knows Maddy. Kinsky doesn't like that he cusses around a lady and asks him to leave. When the man confronts him with, "What you gonna do, hit me?" Kinsky replies with a look that means business, "I don't hit people I don't like. I Kill Them!" And, you believe he would. One thing I found particularly engaging was his delusion that Maddy was a virtuous person. She isn't. She's not bad by any means, but she's not as righteous as Kinsky believes. The two are chalk and cheese. However, their differences make the story more credible and captivating. It would have been delightful had the writers added more detail about Kinsky's tattoo obsession and some of its background. It would have helped strengthen the viewers' belief in his methods and actions.

Brooks also directs, and, sadly, he has an average cinematographic style. Tattoo is a movie that could have been reinforced by some smart camera work - More intriguing close-ups of the body art. Slow pans across the inked flesh. And when Kinsky is working on Maddy, a couple of overhead shots wouldn't have gone amiss to add extra interest. That said, Brooks did give me a wonderful thought-provoking image of used paint swirling down a shower plug-hole. One hindrance to the filming is the slow pace. Brooks is apt to use it quite well to keep the atmosphere a tad off-kilter and keep your nerves slightly piqued. But when there's a dip in the story and direction, then the slowness becomes noticeable.

The cast is superb. I especially liked both the lead characters. Bruce Dern gives simmering menace to the camera excellently, and I have to say Kinsky is one of my favourite roles he's performed. I've only seen Maude Adams in secondary roles, such as being a Bond Girl or in cameos. I was surprised at how good she does here. There are a couple of moments when things slip a little, but you can accept these because, for the rest of the time, she's spot on with her character's personality.

If you're looking for an entertaining dark thriller to pass a Sunday afternoon or evening, then look no further than Tattoo. It's a delicious slice of the Psychopath Pie. Not every nutter dresses up as Mother or makes ashtrays from people's skulls. I may not be rewatching the movie anytime soon, though I may meander upon it again in a few years or so.

Now you have that full sleeve finished, come on over and look at my Killer Thriller Chillers list to see where I ranked Tattoo.

Take Care & Stay Well.

As a psychopathic tattoo artist, Bruce Dern has to work extra hard here, because the script is very sketchy as far as his motivations and background are concerned, but he is up to the task - he has some very creepy moments (like his first outburst at a dinner table). As his "object of desire", however, Maud Adams is fatally miscast: the way she plays the model in the first half of the movie, you just can't understand why anyone would become infatuated with her. This strange film might be worth a look if you can find it, but don't expect too much. (**)

This story makes has me thinking what makes a man so twisted that he becomes deeply obsessed with the woman he loves the most. (Academy Award Nominee Bruce Dern) portrays Karl Kinski a tattoo artist who develops a twisted obsession for a model that he desires the most. Maud Adams (also known as one of the bond girls who was in both The Man with Golden Gun and Octopussy) portrays Maddy, the model that Karl desires the most. This has received a little bit of controversy surrounding the issue of the poster the shows a woman to her ankles. There was also another rumor if whether the sex scene between Maud Adams and Bruce Dern was either real or just an illusion. I don't know how to rate this film, but the point of this film was that it that there are crazed obsessives who lurk among us. To be honest this was a good film.

I watched this both as part of my ongoing Luis Bunuel retrospective (it was written by his daughter-in-law Joyce) and in tribute (comprising what are possibly his two oddest films) to star Bruce Dern's recent – belated but well-deserved - induction into the "Hollywood Walk Of Fame".

The film under review is a maligned one: often described as "sleazy melodrama", plotwise it is quite similar to the superior Oscar-nominated THE COLLECTOR (1965; a theatrical rendition of which, coincidentally, has just been staged locally) but, while kidnapping as an extension of butterfly-collecting makes sense, it doesn't follow naturally from tattoo-painting! Dern has often played wackos on the screen, but this rare leading role was certainly his most extreme example: he believes in what he does as if it were a religion and, after falling for model Maud Adams, tries to convert her to his way of thinking; his obsession with her leads him to ignore an attractive young employee of the modeling agency who, on the other hand, seems to be quietly infatuated with him.

However, the protagonist's overt prudishness – which, frankly, is laughable – alienates the model soon enough (even putting down an annoying acquaintance of hers in a restaurant with the classic tough-guy retort, "When I don't like someone, I don't hurt them, I kill them!"); eventually, the artist decides to take matters into his own hands: retreating to his old beachside house with the (unwilling) girl in tow, whom Dern keeps sedated until he is able to complete his ultimate achievement in body-painting. As often happens with this type of film, the victim ends up succumbing to her captor's wiles – in a genuinely weird scene as the undulating bodies are completely covered in Japanese art – before regaining her senses and breaking free definitively from his hold.

In conclusion, Bob Brooks' former career as a TV commercial director is evidenced by the plot's over-reliance on chintzy modeling sessions; it is ironic, then, that the film works best during its first half!

I love Bruce Dern! The guy has appeared in some of my all time favourite exploitation movies ('The Wild Angels', 'The Trip', 'Psych-Out', 'The Cycle Savages', 'Bloody Mama'), usually playing some kinda evil or deranged character. He does it so well that you can forgive many people thinking he must be a bad ass in real life, when apparently he's a straight living health freak who indulges in marathon running. Anyway, he makes 'Tattoo' into a fascinating viewing experience. It isn't the greatest movie ever made, in fact it's quite a mundane thriller for the most part, but Dern makes it compelling with an intense and yet subtle performance. He plays a very odd tattoo artist who becomes obsessed with Maddy, a bitchy model (Maud Adams, Bond girl and 'Rollerball'). Now Maud Adams isn't really my cup of tea but she sure looks good in the nude scenes, and anyway, this is Dern's movie all the way. Most people seem down on this one, but I can't see why. I will say that the bigger the Dern fan you are the more you will enjoy it. I enjoyed it a LOT!