Love Meets Pain in Mike Omonua’s “The Man Who Cuts Tattoos”

Earlier, the London Film Festival was treated to one of the stark realities of a tattoo culture from an ethnic group in Nigeria, a culture that involves the carving of long lines that run the length of the arms and the torso. Showing again at AFRIFF, “The Man Who Cuts Tattoos” remains as potent as ever, especially in the home country of its filmmaker.

Michael Omonua is the multitalented filmmaker behind the arthouse drama, “The Man Who Cuts Tattoos”. It is a coming of age story that follows Michelle as she makes her way through love, pain, and disappointment and discovers what is on the other side of it. Herself.

The prologue is a short documentary about the pre-wedding tattoo practices of the Esan people of Edo State. Then the main movie starts with the dysfunctional relationship between Michelle and her boyfriend America. Michelle uses her cultural link to Osiwu to find a solution to her problem.

Through snarky and interesting dialogue, we wind through the lows and highs of Michelle’s life. The picture-perfect cinematography also enhances the story. Michelle is in every scene and takes centre stage. In turn, the story wraps around her until she finds peace and calms her storms.

Omonua keeps his cinematography perfect. After the screening, he reveals that he is a fan of meditative movie making. He said, “If I can tell the entire story in one screen, I will do that. I do not see any reason to add more cameras.”

High praise for “The Man Who Cuts Tattoos”

The striking photography unveils a lot of the inner cities of Lagos. This is one of the first feature-length movies to show Lagos so unashamedly. The story has faults in pacing and loyalty to the theme. But the dialogue makes up for it. It feels very natural, especially the introduction which is entirely in the Esan language.

The actors were strong, especially Valerie Dish who delivers a stellar performance, almost single-handedly putting lifting the movie whenever it tended to slip into the doldrums. In the midst of wonderful cinematography, she effortlessly shines through, reminding us that it is her story.

“The Man Who Cuts Tattoos” grounds the viewer in the culture and tradition as well as the modern-day life of the middle-class youth in Nigeria. On one hand, it is a cultural documentary about tattoos. But what the film really shows are the travails of a woman who travels through love and pain and discovers the pain was never hers to bear alone.

Watch the trailer below: