Tattoo (1981) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the movie, Tattoo.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   #cultmoviereview #moviereview #movie   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations

Transcript

00:12hey bo is back here on the film scene investigation channel thank you so much for checking out

00:19this review today i'm going to be taking a deep dive into the 1981 drama tattoo before we get

00:29into it guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the

00:34support is greatly appreciated so the 1981 movie tattoo was directed by the filmmaker bob brooks

00:44and starred the actor bruce dern in the lead role now bruce dern is an actor who i am kind

00:54of familiar

00:55with having seen some of his work in the burps from 1989 and the movie after dark my suite from

01:041990

01:05but um yeah that's that's about it in both those movies he was a supporting actor so yeah it

01:15definitely piqued my interest seeing him in the lead role and also at a much younger age

01:22so the film began with this traditional japanese ceremony taking place you had dozens of heavily

01:31tattooed men performing this tribal dance as the army officer karl kinski looked on in amazement

01:39kinski who was played by bruce dern was fascinated by what he saw and that was the start of his

01:49obsession with tattoos this japanese ceremony had an everlasting effect on kinski and it it basically

01:59changed his life the story then caught up with kyle many years later once he had become a tattoo artist

02:06and owned his own tattoo parlor in new york business was doing good he had loads of returning customers

02:15and it seemed like kyle's life was uh yeah pretty good one day kyle was offered a new opportunity

02:23to work for a new york fashion house as they were in need of a tattoo artist for the next

02:30project

02:31they had been impressed with kyle's work they had obviously scouted around and found kyle being the

02:39best suited for their new campaign now in fairness to kyle yeah he didn't really seem all that interested

02:47to begin with i mean he was very comfortable just doing his thing running his shop but since the pay

02:56was pretty good he ultimately took the offer now this was where things kicked into high gear as kyle became

03:05infatuated with one of the models that was working on the campaign a girl called maddie that was played by

03:13actress maude adams as soon as kyle laid eyes on maddie for the first time he was instantly drawn to

03:23her

03:23like they had some sort of i don't know deep connection the two eventually met in person and became friends

03:33but what started out as just an innocent working relationship soon turned into something a lot more

03:42personal for kyle for maddie kyle was just another co-worker you know someone that she just has to work

03:51with to complete the campaign that's her job that was it but little did she know what she was letting

03:59herself in for so one night kyle decided to invite maddie over to his tattoo parlor where he could show

04:08off

04:09the many designs that he created maddie's boyfriend was working long hours she had nothing better to do

04:18and kyle's offer seemed appealing so she went but once she was there it didn't take long for kyle's

04:29menacing behavior to emerge while everything seemed fine initially as soon as the two started discussing

04:38their feelings on relationships things turned ugly they discussed what it was like you know to fall in

04:47love and to you know be with someone from their discussions it was clear that kyle had a very

04:55traditional outlook on relationships you know he wanted commitment and loyalty from someone that

05:03would fully commit to him maddie on the other hand was a lot more open-minded when it came to

05:11love

05:11and relationships i mean she never outright said it but it was clear that she you know slept around

05:18and didn't really value sex as this you know big important thing yeah it was it was no big deal

05:27to her

05:27but once kyle heard this he just couldn't contain his feelings and right there and then started berating

05:36maddie for you know her behavior kyle couldn't handle this attitude that maddie was expressing

05:45and told her to never say such things ever again of course maddie was completely stunned by kyle's

05:54outburst i mean you know who wouldn't be but she did the right thing by not engaging in any kind

06:02of

06:02arguments and you know just played it all down maddie left the tattoo parlor that night hoping to never

06:11see kyle ever again i mean he really freaked her out with that outburst and yeah i mean she meant

06:18it

06:19no return calls no meetups she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him which ultimately only made kyle

06:29even more infatuated with her i mean when it came to kyle he wasn't just gonna let maddie suddenly

06:36disappear from his life i mean he really liked her he really felt this connection towards her

06:41and he wanted to win her over kyle tried everything to get maddie's attention even showing up to her

06:49apartment one time but no matter what he did he had scared her off permanently he was basically stalking

06:59maddie terrorizing her but still he had no luck whatsoever and one night he eventually would end

07:07up kidnapping maddie by going to her apartment and drugging her he couldn't get her to listen and so

07:16in his warped mindset kidnapping maddie was the best solution in his eyes you know when all this was

07:28playing out um that was definitely a shocking moment i didn't expect an abduction to randomly just take

07:35place like it did and yeah it definitely caught me off guard and you know after that the mood of

07:42the film

07:42definitely changed it became a lot more darker kyle drove the unconscious maddie to his father's old

07:52beach house where his true intentions came to light you see he wanted to leave his mark on maddie

08:00permanently and so he decided to start tattooing all over her body while she was sleeping he forcibly

08:10tattooed maddie against her will without her knowing and yeah i gotta say that was uh

08:17pretty unsettling to watch now as you'd expect from a movie called tattoo there was a lot of symbolism

08:27going on throughout the movie the whole idea of you know tattooing someone without their knowledge

08:34is not only a frightening prospect but that really symbolized the power struggle between kyle and maddie

08:45on one hand you had kyle wanting to leave his mark or in other words wanted to mark his territory

08:53by taking ownership of maddie he was infatuated with her he was obsessed and in his eyes maddie was his

09:05whether she liked it or not i mean maddie wasn't stupid she realized that kyle had some sort of

09:13mental deficiency and so she took advantage of that she played the long game you know going along with

09:21whatever kyle wanted to do to her body in an effort to hopefully at one point lure kyle into a

09:30false sense

09:31of security i mean ultimately she overcame the odds she showed her resilience and she you know took back

09:41control of her destiny as for the visual style for tattoo i have to say i really liked it with

09:50the

09:51cinematographer michael serin bringing this raw aesthetic that mirrored the story's dark themes i did notice

10:01that the movie had a very muted color palette which was actually intentional because that emphasized the

10:09colorful artistic designs that kyle had created also showing how important the tattoo designs were i also

10:18really liked the series of close-ups that were used during the tattooing scenes we were right there

10:26up close seeing the tattooing process take place with kyle intently using his tattoo gun and for someone like

10:36me who you know i don't have a tattoo never really been into tattoos so i don't really you know

10:43know much

10:44about the tattooing culture seeing this movie from the perspective of a tattoo artist was definitely

10:52intriguing now when it comes to the performances i have to give credit to bruce dern who really delivered

11:00a brilliant performance as the tattoo artist kyle kinski dern conveyed kyle's inner turmoil

11:09so convincingly that at times i actually felt somewhat sympathetic towards the character

11:18while on the surface some may see the kyle character as this evil person looking to destroy everyone

11:28and everything but in actuality the kyle character was a very complex figure you know a person with

11:39multiple sides to their personality and someone who was clearly mentally unwell

11:45and you know when i think about it the lack of mental health awareness is definitely something that

11:53sticks out to me when it comes to this character now i wanted to bring up the fact that kyle

12:00was an ex-army

12:02officer and it's very likely that he suffered from some sort of ptsd that went undiagnosed now of course

12:12i'm not condoning murder but i really believe that kyle's wartime service contributed to his mental

12:23decline you know kinski wasn't your average one-dimensional bad guy anything but you know he was a deeply

12:32flawed man who had some major insecurities the film also hinted at kyle having a very troubled relationship

12:42with his father which led to a very unbalanced upbringing there was a scene early on in the film

12:50where we saw kyle go and visit his dad's open casket before burial and that seems very telling for me

12:59because whereas someone would naturally be in mourning kyle was almost emotionless

13:07he wasn't reacting or grieving like a normal person would you know there was a mental block there

13:15and i believe that may have been down to some sort of abuse or trauma that kyle was obviously still

13:26dealing with internally after all those years you know all of this as i said is there but it's you

13:33know

13:33subtly hidden you know you kind of have to look within but um yeah the kyle character was not this

13:41evil one-dimensional bad guy that you may think he is on the surface i also really enjoyed how the

13:49filmmakers revealed kyle's true self bit by bit there was a scene early on where we saw maddie and kyle

13:58go to a restaurant together and that was the first time that we saw a glimpse of kyle's menacing

14:07behavior and maddie and kyle had you know just met they were getting to know each other but randomly one

14:15of maddie's old boyfriends showed up and interrupted them which really offended kyle you know one minute

14:24everything was fine and then the atmosphere just completely changed with kyle giving this guy this

14:32intense death stare you know up until that point kyle had never really shown any aggression or anything

14:41like that but clearly there was a darker element to his psyche he he may have seemed approachable

14:51to a certain point but underneath kyle was a very dangerous individual when it comes to actress

15:02maude adams i thought she did a wonderful job playing maddie this high-flying new york model whose

15:10life got completely flipped upside down once she met kyle i can't say i'm all that familiar with maude adams

15:20and her work besides her roles in james bond but uh from what i saw yeah you know she impressed

15:28me

15:28and she really was the perfect counterpart to play opposite bruce durn without a doubt her best scene

15:38was when her character maddie discovered that kyle had tattooed all over her body while she had been

15:46unconscious she woke up and slowly realized what had happened to her but it was almost like she

15:57couldn't comprehend it you had maddie standing in front of the mirror you know trying to rub off this

16:04you know ink but you know it didn't come off and it was then at that moment that she realized

16:13that

16:13she'd been permanently marked and she just then capitulated you know in tears she was angry she was upset

16:22rightfully so of course and that was a very disturbing moment to you know to witness the

16:29character just you know just fall to pieces like she did you know all of that mental torture that car

16:36put maddie under yeah it was brutal but um yeah some brilliant work from actress maude adams

16:45so dislikes for tattoo from 1981 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the very dated and

16:58melodramatic score by the composer barry vorzon now this movie had a very dark aesthetic you know and that

17:08made sense given the provocative subject matter but when it came to the music i have to say i was

17:17pretty pretty let down with what the composer produced there was lots of orchestral music which

17:25it was fine it was passable but i just really lacked any kind of significance for me i just found

17:35the

17:35the whole score to be very uninspiring um very generic at times and that was a letdown because this movie

17:45was

17:45really you know for its time pushing the boundaries you know within storytelling it was like what is this

17:53music it really failed to build up any kind of atmosphere for the movie maybe i'm wrong but um it

18:03just felt

18:03that there wasn't really much effort and time put into the musical soundtrack and when i think about

18:13films like the driller killer or the texas chainsaw massacre i mean that is the type of sound design

18:21that this film should have had whereas it came off more as like a i don't know generic tv movie

18:29soundtrack

18:30you know i can sit here and praise the acting the storytelling the direction the cinematography

18:38but um yeah that score that was um just very poor and it did let down the film overall and

18:48so ratings for

18:50tattoo from 1981 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid six out of ten tattoo

19:00was a very interesting psychological thriller that explored the darker aspects of the human psyche

19:08in the character karkinski a peculiar man who whose obsession basically caused his downfall we also saw the

19:19power of the human spirit with the maddie character and her journey to overcome karl's mental torture

19:28you know undoubtedly for me this movie tattoo is one of the more intriguing movies that i've seen

19:37in the last few years and you know when you think about it tattoo was kind of ahead of its

19:45time

19:45with its portrayal of tattoo culture i have to remind myself i wasn't even you know born at that time

19:52but um you know in the late 70s and early 80s tattoos were not widely accepted as they are today

20:00they were still very much stigmatized but with this movie it did something that no other film had done

20:10at that point and showed a different perspective and that was something that you know definitely stood

20:16out and made it a unique movie if you've seen tattoo please let me know your thoughts and memories in

20:23the comment section below i have never heard anyone mention this before so who knows if anyone out there

20:30has seen it but if you haven't it's a big recommendation for me as i really enjoyed this movie

20:35i went into it not really expecting much but um yeah i was really impressed and well that's all from

20:44me

20:44today guys i do hope you've enjoyed my review of this movie 1981's tattoo i'll be back next week with

20:52another movie review don't forget to like and subscribe and of course take care

21:15um

21:21you

21:22you

21:22Amen.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended