Tattoo

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!

I think people are too hard on this film. It's one of my favourites. Maud Adams turned out to be a wonderful actress (have you noticed people seem to be nasty about models turned actresses if they're any good?). As for Bruce Dern.... WOW! He's great too! It's much like "The Collector" in the sense that he kidnaps her out of obsession, perhaps convincing himself it's love- being a lonely character in it.Don't be mislead, it's a good film. It's not perverted in anyway. It's known by people who've read about it that he tattoos her (probably how it gets it's title!), true, but people forget that she is attracted to the idea, denying it to herself though, which provokes his attack- probably. Well, that's my opinion and Maud Adams is my favourite actress. In my 'crazy' mind she's the best actress to have come from the James Bond films ("The Man With The Golden Gun" and "Octopussy", as Andrea Anders and Octopussy respectively). Try to watch and don't be led into thinking it's a 'sleazy' film because it's not. It's a marvellous film!!

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.

Karl Kinsky is an army veteran who returns home, becoming a tattoo artist specializing in Eastern designs. He's a quiet and solemn individual, who had somewhat a bumpy upbringing with a father who looks down upon him and still does because of his profession. He is hired to create temporary tattoos for some models, but he slowly becomes obsessed with one of them Maddy. He begins a relationship with her, for it only to implode due his prudish believes and constant harassment. But he takes matters into his own hands when he kidnaps her and decides he wants to leave his mark on her.

"Tattoo" is a fascinating early eighties psychological slow-burner with an outstanding lead showing by Bruce Dern. It can be said, in his career Dern has been lumped in villainous / unlikable roles, but here it's a perfectly disturbed pitch of subtle and mannered shades. Across from him is the beautiful and headstrong Maud Adams, as the leering affection that Dern's character longs for. The script paints Kinksy as someone who knows what he wants, but wants it to be pure which leads to misconception and Dern's performance nails his character's insecure nature, as cracks start appearing showing an unsettling side. That being, the film progression is not unique, but quite routine and sombre. I think it works better in the opening stages setting up the characters, then so during the captive moments of the story. This is when it kind of stalls, but still visually it ends on an effective note. You'll know where it heads, but it's the acting, gritty urban locations (which also paint a desolate and lonely facade) and vivid tattoo artwork designs (and their meanings) on show that evaluate the formulaic plot. Bob Brooks' measured direction is efficient and busy, but its Dern's show. Also there's capable support by Rikke Borge, Leonard Frey and John Getz.

I had high hopes "Tattoo" would be a minor gem. The ingredients were there - Bruce Dern doing what he does best: playing a psycho, the superb Leonard Frey has a minor role, a script is by a Bunuel and the plot concerns the rarely explored world of tattoos. Yet what we get is soft porn, bad acting and a ridiculously pretentious ending. Okay, so Dern is great as the masturbating, obsessive tattoo artist but the casting of Maud Adams as the object of his obsession is incredibly off. Looking like someone who just crawled out of an airbrush-laden mid-seventies Playboy issue, Adams is about as attractive as drying paint, but not quite as talented.

The script is heavily misjudged also, constructed so we come to sympathize with Dern, yet halfway switches to having Adams the protagonist, which fails as attributed to her shallow and bitchy portrayal. And there is the film's major flaw, with no-one to sympathize with the film lacks the power and suspense it so desires. On the plus side it looks great, with wonderful cinematography which somehow even manages to evoke atmosphere from the proceedings on occasion. Also we get a cameo from a teenage Cynthia Nixon, Miranda from "Sex in the City", who impresses with what little screen time she has. "Tattoo" ends on a symbolic note which some may find profound, but most will see it for what it really is - turgid and pointless.

Rent "Magic" or "The Collector" instead.

One and a half out of four.