Tetsuo Iron Man was the debut film from Japanese madman director Shinya Tsukamoto. Even if you don't like reading subtitles, put it on your queue next time you log into your movie download service anyways. It's NOT that kind of foreign film. It's practically a silent film, because it's really just all action, special effects and weirdness, with very little dialog.
The main character is a Japanese salary man who is sort of the Japanese equivalent of the "everyman" character. One day, metal starts growing from his body for... Well, pretty much no reason at all. It's really the same sort of Japanese surrealism as Kobo Abe writes, and drives home the same basic idea, that life is strange and unpredictable.
Tsukamoto made the film around the idea of a monster flick with a human sized monster. So imagine Godzilla if Godzilla were only five foot eight. It's not exactly like that, but it's very similar. The film has two monsters doing battle: The salary man after his transformation, and Tetsuo, played by Shinya Tsukamoto himself. Both do battle as these metallic monsters, having a final show down in a junkyard on the outskirts of Tokyo.
The movie really helped to define Japanese cyberpunk. There had been earlier efforts in the genre such as Burst City, but this one was the one that really defined the genre as being about industrialism and the Frankenstein-esque relations between man and machine. Where American cyberpunk tends to focus on the computer age, Japanese cyberpunk is more about antiquated machinery and post WWII fear.
The movie is incredibly fast paced, and it's even a little confusing, but that's sort of the point. The movie also has a great look to it, with stark, high contrast black and white really driving home the nightmarish atmosphere of the film's setting. It really results in a strange look and a strange feel. The movie feels much more like a bad dream than it does like events happening in real life.
The film draws a lot of influence from two sources: Eraserhead, and David Cronenberg's Videodrome. Both of these films greatly contributed to its look, with Shinya Tsukamoto being a particularly big fan of Cronenberg's entire library of work. A warning, though, if those movies made you squeamish, this one will make you twice as squeamish. As surreal as the imagery is, it still might gross you out just a bit.
Tsukamoto would later go on to create a number of incredible films, including Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet, and a sequel to the original Tetsuo, called Tetsuo: Body Hammer. He's now working on a third in the series, Tetsuo: The Bulletman. All of his films focus on some similar themes regarding violence, sexuality and the male ego. If you like Tetsuo Iron Man, check out Tokyo Fist, which similarly deals with the concept of rage as a component of transformation.
He's also gone on to have a career as an actor (he plays a major character in this film), starring as a major character in Ichi the Killer. His career is certainly one to watch. Twenty years after his debut, it's clear that he's just warming up.
The main character is a Japanese salary man who is sort of the Japanese equivalent of the "everyman" character. One day, metal starts growing from his body for... Well, pretty much no reason at all. It's really the same sort of Japanese surrealism as Kobo Abe writes, and drives home the same basic idea, that life is strange and unpredictable.
Tsukamoto made the film around the idea of a monster flick with a human sized monster. So imagine Godzilla if Godzilla were only five foot eight. It's not exactly like that, but it's very similar. The film has two monsters doing battle: The salary man after his transformation, and Tetsuo, played by Shinya Tsukamoto himself. Both do battle as these metallic monsters, having a final show down in a junkyard on the outskirts of Tokyo.
The movie really helped to define Japanese cyberpunk. There had been earlier efforts in the genre such as Burst City, but this one was the one that really defined the genre as being about industrialism and the Frankenstein-esque relations between man and machine. Where American cyberpunk tends to focus on the computer age, Japanese cyberpunk is more about antiquated machinery and post WWII fear.
The movie is incredibly fast paced, and it's even a little confusing, but that's sort of the point. The movie also has a great look to it, with stark, high contrast black and white really driving home the nightmarish atmosphere of the film's setting. It really results in a strange look and a strange feel. The movie feels much more like a bad dream than it does like events happening in real life.
The film draws a lot of influence from two sources: Eraserhead, and David Cronenberg's Videodrome. Both of these films greatly contributed to its look, with Shinya Tsukamoto being a particularly big fan of Cronenberg's entire library of work. A warning, though, if those movies made you squeamish, this one will make you twice as squeamish. As surreal as the imagery is, it still might gross you out just a bit.
Tsukamoto would later go on to create a number of incredible films, including Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet, and a sequel to the original Tetsuo, called Tetsuo: Body Hammer. He's now working on a third in the series, Tetsuo: The Bulletman. All of his films focus on some similar themes regarding violence, sexuality and the male ego. If you like Tetsuo Iron Man, check out Tokyo Fist, which similarly deals with the concept of rage as a component of transformation.
He's also gone on to have a career as an actor (he plays a major character in this film), starring as a major character in Ichi the Killer. His career is certainly one to watch. Twenty years after his debut, it's clear that he's just warming up.
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Additional personnel includes: Rainer Bruninghaus (keyboards); Werner Kopal (bass); Bert Smaak (drums) Movie Download Services I used to fool around with them but you begin sounding like Hank Marvin. The image therefore will maintain the correct aspect ratio but also fill the whole screen.
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