Tattoo

Tattoo (1981)

Runtime: 98 minutes

Directed by: Bob Brooks

Starring: Bruce Dern, Maud Adams, Leonard Frey, Frederikke Borge, John Getz

From: 20^th Century Fox

Who knew that Vimeo would be the source of some film rarities? I won’t dive into details (as for one thing, the account I’m referring to only displays 10 videos at a time even though it has more than that available… another thing, who knows if that account will be zapped) but via diving into a small rabbit hole on Twitter, the discovery was made that someone from Canada has uploaded various obscurities for the public, and either restored himself or using raw 35mm scans. Not all are available for download at a separate link but (nevermind how) I’ve downloaded what I’ve wanted… for the sake of film preservation!

I’ll discuss this further at the end but for now, my thoughts on a movie long out of print that Shout Factory wanted to release on Blu but allegedly, no print worth a darn was available for this task. Given that there were issues w/ that 35mm scan where the picture went wonky a few times and other times there’d be like 20 seconds missing… I do believe the claim that no good print exists of the film any longer. In fact, eventually I found another source to finish watching the film w/ no interruptions.

The print this person used for his Vimeo upload was open matte; the popularity of that in niche circles is not fully understood by me but despite the full frame presentation, it itself at least looked great when not glitching. Names like Maud Adams and John Getz were appealing as I’ve never not liked seeing them in a few pictures through the years. However, Bruce Dern as the lead was the main draw. While not a perfect comparison, think Travis Bickle as we view the world of tattoo artist Karl Kinsky. He was a Vietnam veteran who is fascinated by Japanese tattoos as seen on Yakuza members and others, yet is not mentally well so when he swoons over model Adams then gets a chance to work with her… remember that at the time, tattoos were far less mainstream so tattoo artists weren’t looked at favorably.

The movie is uneven; the final act wasn’t as strong as the first two acts & there was the dreaded “production interference” which upset director Bob Brooks. Be that as it may, the strong performances by Adams & Dern were huge assets in making this a good movie. Kinsky’s increasing erratic behavior was at least fascinating, although also appropriately disturbing. It’s not an upbeat movie, in case that did not come across in this review. It was co-written by Joyce Bunuel; yes, her father-in-law is exactly who you think it is. A famous name (briefly) in this: Cynthia Nixon, as an underaged prostitute! See what I mean about the Taxi Driver comparisons. She also utters a slur that definitely won’t be repeated here. In any case, a shame that people have to jump through hoops to track down Tattoo.

As for that Vimeo account, the other videos they have at the moment include 1981’s Eyewitness, the full version of Ken Russell’s The Devils, and Godzilla 1985. One activity I’ve done in the past several months is discover various accounts on Twitter that offer downloads of obscurities. Between that and downloading streams from The Bowels of the Internet—time for me to purchase more flash drives and microSD cards…