"Tattooist"

As the opening sequence demonstrates, there is a kind of medical factor to tattoo art that's rather fascinating. They both involve needles, obviously, but what exactly is that weird ink that creates tattoo art anyway? Soo-na (played byYoon Joo-hee) is a doctor turned tattooist who utilizes their mysterious properties- for murder. That sounds like a good premise for a movie doesn't it? Well, unfortunately the actual main serial killer character of"Tattooist"is Ji-soon (played bySong Il-gook). He's just a genericübermensch serial killer.

I really hate that trope. Anyone who's read my reviews before knows this, but"Tattooist"is a very good case study in why theübermensch serial killer is a bad trope- it's boring. If you've seen oneübermensch serial killer, you've seen them all. The only difference is in tone. And in this case the very important tonal distinction directorLee Seobrings to the genre is that we get to see graphic torture rape murder. Well isn't that just dandy.

But what makes"Tattooist"especially frustrating is the sheer waste of potential. The set-up clearly implies that Soo-na's much more interesting tattoo-based murder is going to be the main subject, then Ji-soon shows up and takes over the entire plot for no good reason. The whole bit about the tattoos is just a random afterthought. Heck, technically speaking the main character isn't either serial killer at all but rather detective Cheon-gi (played byKwon Hyeon-sang). The most interesting thing about him is his ballerina cousin.

As a procedural the failings of"Tattooist"are even more glaring. For Cheon-gi to go over police procedure is incomprehensible considering that Ji-soon, as is usual for theübermensch serial killer, doesn't seem to have to deal with logistics. Getting away with murder in the middle of nowhere kind of makes sense- but how exactly does he manage to bumble through large, unfamiliar, actively used buildings without anyone noticing all that blood?

Another irritating factor is that the movie is inconsistent about this. Sometimes a nearby prop is needed to commit murder. Other times a pointy object manages to materialize out of thin air. Also Ji-soon's love of erotic asphyxiation is an important plot point- to the point that the story would be completely incapable of progressing at all if he didn't insist on attempting erotic asphyxiation every time he has sex.

And you know, that's the basic problem here. A lack of creativity. There are ways to kill a person during sex that don't involve chokeholds or weird out-of-focus torture instruments. Like, do you have any idea how many sexual positions there are? A lot! There are all sorts of potential interesting angles that"Tattooist"could go for and it just never does anything with them. The movie is a failure as story and it's a failure as spectacle. I have no idea why anyone would want to watch it. I have no idea why a star ofSong Il-gook's calibre would want to make it either. I mean come on man you want the triplets to see this garbage when they grow up?

This review was written by William Schwartz as a part of HanCinema's BiFan (Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival) coverage.

"Tattooist"is directed byLee Seoand featuresSong Il-gook,Yoon Joo-heeandSeo Yeong.