william d
I liked the movie's concept but disliked the execution. There are some weak plot points, the fight scenes appear phony and staged, and there is a lot of lame dialog. On the plus side, Ayako Wakao gives an impressive performance.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Based on Junichiro Tanizaki's story Shisei (The Tattooist), Yasuzô Masumura's (Black Test Car) tells the story of Otsuya and Shinsuke. She's the daughter of a rich merchant who is tempted by her father's employee to elope before they're caught by an inn keeper.
Now sold into prostitution, she's given a tattoo by Seikichi, a master artist, of a human-faced spider. Her pale skin has created the perfect canvas for him, but now she's been marked as the property of another man. As she and Shinsuke seek to escape their lives, all manner of horror follows, with the face of the spider changing — and Otsuya herself — with each act and each man who comes her way must pay.
Masumura and his muse Ayako Wakao, who plays Otsuya, made several films together, yet this film is the first of theirs I've seen. It's a woman getting revenge feature. Yet while the film makes you wonder at first if it's the tattoo or the woman doing all of the murder, by the end, the answer becomes clear.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Based on Junichiro Tanizaki's story Shisei (The Tattooist), Yasuzô Masumura's (Black Test Car) tells the story of Otsuya and Shinsuke. She's the daughter of a rich merchant who is tempted by her father's employee to elope before they're caught by an inn keeper.
Now sold into prostitution, she's given a tattoo by Seikichi, a master artist, of a human-faced spider. Her pale skin has created the perfect canvas for him, but now she's been marked as the property of another man. As she and Shinsuke seek to escape their lives, all manner of horror follows, with the face of the spider changing — and Otsuya herself — with each act and each man who comes her way must pay.
Masumura and his muse Ayako Wakao, who plays Otsuya, made several films together, yet this film is the first of theirs I've seen. It's a woman getting revenge feature. Yet while the film makes you wonder at first if it's the tattoo or the woman doing all of the murder, by the end, the answer becomes clear.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
eric b
Yasuzo Masumura's "Irezumi" ("Tattoo") is weakly known beyond arty Japanese-film circles, but its plot fits quite well amidst today's abundant mainstream thrillers about femme fatales and their prey.
Reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy, "Irezumi" is a violent tale of forbidden love. Otsuya is the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Shinsuke works for her father. The two are in an intense romance, but Otsuya's father doesn't feel Shinsuke is worthy. He orders Shinsuke killed (he escapes harm), and has Otsuya shuffled off to a geisha house to live as a prostitute. As part of her sentence, she is tattooed with a giant spider across her back (it bears little resemblance to what's seen in the above movie poster). The creature's legs have an eerie way of "wriggling" along with her torso movements, and the suggestion is that the tattoo somehow possesses her spirit and transforms her into a cold-hearted devourer of men. By the time the fugitive Shinsuke catches up with her, she's living in luxury and is established as the region's most coveted prize. Their bond remains, but we know this can't end well.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Great Masumura film adapted by fellow writer-director Kaneto Shindo from a story by acclaimed novelist Junichiro Tanizaki. Ayako Wakao is fantastic in the lead role, as a femme fatale who is made all the more deadly after a humanoid female globe spider is tattooed on her back. This act not only seems to replenish her and drain the artist, but changes her fundamental character. Afterwards, it is the men who are getting penetrated by implements at her beckoning.
This is quite different from the `80s film of the same name, also excellent. The shots are almost all from chest-height and fairly close, which seems typical and appropriate for all of the early indoor scenes. But this largely remains true when the camera moves outdoors for a foggy forest killing. It visually conveys the pawn Shinsuke's reflection that, "Killing has become a mindless habit."
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Atmospheric, strange and gripping - like a deranged James M. Cain story.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
Full Review
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