Tattoo

Starred review from January 15, 2018
Rene (I Once Knew Vincent) pours emotion into carefully chosen visuals in this beautifully haunting tale of lives written on skin. Jane is a young woman in Dallas, Tex., and an anomaly. After Judgment Day, every person’s skin is permanently tattooed, from birth, with their complete life story, from the good times to the darkest secrets, all there for the world to see. Some daring tattoo artists do the highly illegal work of helping people rewrite some of the more difficult parts of their lives; altering a tattoo alters the wearer’s memory as well. Jane, however, is a completely blank canvas, inspiring both fear and adoration in all who encounter her. There’s no past that she remembers and no future she can think of until she crosses paths with five very different people who become her protectors. Jane’s story, told in reverse chronological order from the protectors’ varying viewpoints, is the catalyst for deeper introspection and an examination of life in a so-called perfect world where there are no secrets. A surprise plot twist adds a wonderful sense of depth, inviting readers to question what they know of the story and characters, and leaving them with a sense of wonder and of slight disquiet.