Once an enthusiasm deemed suitable for only sailors and hard-time convicts, the tattoo has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Whether they are dainty daisies forever gracing the biceps (or bosom) of a Southern belle, or screaming skulls and barbed-wire bands making guitar-wielding musicians rock-ready, the tattoo has come of age.
Of course, to call tattoos trendy would be something of an untruth. People have been inking up their bodies for thousands of years - only slightly longer than moviemakers have been going to the tattoo (ink) well. Here are a few films that use tattoos as an essential plot point:
MEMENTO (2000): There are things - our name, elements of personal history, loves lost and found - that are unforgettable, but what if they weren't. Such is the conceit of Memento, which features a vengeance-driven protagonist whose acute amnesia won't allow him to remember exactly what it is he feels so vengeful about. His solution, permanent Post-it notes, tattooed across his entire body. It's a device that ends up being visually and dramatically compelling.
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955): When a sociopath, looking for lost loot, comes a courtin', everyone looks at his clerical collar and assumes the best. When the tattoos emerge, particularly the menacing "Love" and "Hate" needled across his knuckles, signs of his sinister nature begin to emerge. An earnest, frightening film featuring a career performance by the always charismatic Robert Mitchum.
PAPILLON (1973): Based on the true story of Henri Charriere, a petty criminal wrongly convicted of murder, this prison film stars Steve McQueen as a man fully focused on regaining his freedom. The butterfly emblazoned across his chest serves as constant reminder of the things he has lost and a motivator that keeps him stretching for a life on the other side of the wire.
CAPE FEAR (1991): Martin Scorsese's wicked remake of the Robert Mitchum/Gregory Peck thriller stars Robert De Niro as a convict who has spent years of incarceration planning his revenge on the defense attorney whom he feels failed him. Much of his complex character and personal philosophy are displayed in the intricate tattoos that cover his body.
THE PILLOW BOOK (1996): Although actually about body illustration and not actual tattoos, Pillow Book is a courageous, often disturbing and always arresting look at some of the compulsions that drive people to modify and customize the skin in which they live. The movie stars Vivian Wu as a young woman obsessed with words, paper and skin, and Ewan McGregor as the young man who becomes her willing canvas.
Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.
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