Need helping inking out the details on a film
June 26, 2024 2:21 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to remember the name of a film I saw around 15 years ago. It's a Japanese film, and I'm pretty sure the main character is an older male tattoo artist. The scene that stands out most in my mind is a scene where this character tattoos the back of a teenage girl.
I think the film is independent and probably obscure. I also remember it being set in a relatively small city or town.
I think the film is independent and probably obscure. I also remember it being set in a relatively small city or town.
Response by poster: Just checked out Irezumi, and that's not it. I think this movie was from the 80s, 90s, or early 2000s.
posted by matkline at 4:05 AM on June 26
posted by matkline at 4:05 AM on June 26
Could it be Swallowtail Butterfly? from the 90s? The tattooist (played by Mikey Curtis) is minor character, but the tattooing is important to the young lead. It’s a very loose near-future heist movie, if that’s any help.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 AM on June 26
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:14 AM on June 26
As I was convinced I read a story that Irezumi appeared to be based on, I went through my bookcase and found it. Indeed written by Tanizaki, credited as writer for Irezumi, it is quite different from the movie as it ends with the girl showing the fresh tattoo to the artist, and there is only foreboding of her future with many men falling victim to her. Neither is she kidnapped and forced into prostitution, just persuaded to let the artist ink a tattoo of a spider, same as on a Chinese painting he shows her.
IMDB does not know of regular movies other than Irezumi and Swallowtail Butterfly that both have the tattoo artist and the girl as characters, and there's your movie date that doesn't match those. But with a well-known writer like Tanizaki I wouldn't be surprised if another Japanese director had used it as a basis for a movie.
posted by Stoneshop at 11:29 AM on June 26
IMDB does not know of regular movies other than Irezumi and Swallowtail Butterfly that both have the tattoo artist and the girl as characters, and there's your movie date that doesn't match those. But with a well-known writer like Tanizaki I wouldn't be surprised if another Japanese director had used it as a basis for a movie.
posted by Stoneshop at 11:29 AM on June 26
Are you thinking of The Pillow Book, from 1995? It's calligraphy, not tattooing.
posted by MillyMath at 2:22 PM on June 26
posted by MillyMath at 2:22 PM on June 26
Best answer: I'm thinking it might actually be Shojo (An Adolescent) by Eiji Okuda
posted by matkline at 11:47 PM on June 26 [1 favorite]
posted by matkline at 11:47 PM on June 26 [1 favorite]
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posted by Stoneshop at 2:45 AM on June 26