‘Tattooed Life' begins with a parasol wielding Yakuza assassin attacking a rickshaw. It almost looks like feudal Japan until somebody pulls a gun and we're reminded that it's the 20th century. Post-shooting, the assassin delivers his bounty to his brother (to pay for his art school education) before getting ambushed in one of the few rickshaw-jacking incidents in film history, and being rescued by his art-student brother. In the aftermath, one brother is marked for death by the Yakuza, and the other brother won't go to art school with blood on his hands, so they decide the perfect way to deal with such hardships is to become fugitive construction workers in northern Japan . And why not?
곤충 연구가인 한 교사가 표본 수집을 하기 위해 모래 지대를 돌아다니다, 지역 주민의 소개로 어느 여인이 혼자 사는 집에서 묵게 된다. 다음날 이 집을 떠나려 하던 그는 땅위로 올라갈 사다리가 없어진 것으로 보고 놀란다.
1964년 칸 영화제 수상작으로 인간의 실존적 조건을 예리하게 묘사한 작품이다. 아베 고보의 소설을 영화화 하였다.