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Tetsuo - The Iron Man (Special Edition) Actors: Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Closed-captioned Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 67 minutes Studio: Tartan Video Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-07-19 Buy from Amazon |
 "Ok......."Lemme see here. You have some weird guy shove a piece of metal in his leg, he sees maggots all over it (ICK) runs out into the street gets hit by a car, then thus the driver turns into.... An iron man basically while the dude who got hit by a car is planning his death or something. Man this film is one hell of an acid ride through his transformation into this iron man. Very bizarre and twisted with the constant slash off to the heavy pumped industrial score while you try to focus on what's going on, many times I thought this was to absurd and wanted to turn it off but I wanted to see where it was going. It's visually breathtaking and not a very pleasant thing to sit through, but I can't give this five stars because quite frankly I don't know who would. This is followed by equally messed up sequel "Body Hammer" but that one made no sense really.... This is made by Shinya Tsukamoto who is a very good director and actor as well, if you've seen Ichi The Killer he's in there as a character, I want to check out his movie Tokyo Fist but I'm kind of scared too...... This is worth checking out only if you handle it.  "Social commentary in its own right"Watching this film reminded me of The Thing by John Carpenter. In that sci-fi classic, the man's body, taken over by the thing, is hideously twisted and transformed beyond our wildest imagination, which imparts a certain sense of sexuality to the proceedings. In Tetsuo by Shinya Tsukamoto, the body is taken over by iron. Again the question of sexuality is high on the agenda as is evident in the scene where you see a male sex organ shaped like a huge iron drill spinning ferociously, hinting that love in our day often consists in the realm of the senses generated by genitalia and that a man's sex organ is nothing but a machine in such a context. We are just as inorganic as the machines that surround us and the iron and metals that make up those machines. As the man slowly transforms into iron, he experiences excruciating pains, to which we have grown so much numb. It seems to me that Tsukamoto's primary concern is the recoverty of the body, which in his case is almost always expressed with the imagery of sex, violence and pain. "A completely unique experience!"Tetsuo is not for anyone that's the least bit squeamish. For the rest of us, it is an absolute wild ride. The movie is black-and-white, hyperkinetic, and totally unique. The story makes only some sense, but it is the visuals and music that work here. Shinyo Tsukamoto uses fast cuts, weird camera angles, and the black-and-white film to great advantage in Tetsuo. Every frame is overloaded with detail, and the metallization of people in the movie is more a weird combination of tubes, wires, and cables than anything else. Visually, this movie is unique, and Chu Ishikawa's soundtrack fits it perfectly. You will just sit there, and say something like: whoa, what the heck is going on!! Tetsuo II is completely different; hard to believe Tsukamoto also directed it. It is worth seeing only to fill in some of the holes the first movie leaves in the story. Unfortunately, the hyperkinetics and great visuals are completely gone in Tetsuo II. I give Tetsuo only 4 out of 5 for an overly graphic middle section; it is a truly humorous section (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), until Tsukamoto takes it too far. Otherwise, a great movie. "A completely unique experience!"Tetsuo is not for anyone that's the least bit squeamish. For the rest of us, it is an absolute wild ride. The movie is black-and-white, hyperkinetic, and totally unique. The story makes only some sense, but it is the visuals and music that work here. Shinyo Tsukamoto uses fast cuts, weird camera angles, and the black-and-white film to great advantage in Tetsuo. Every frame is overloaded with detail, and the metallization of people in the movie is more a weird combination of tubes, wires, and cables than anything else. Visually, this movie is unique, and Chu Ishikawa's soundtrack fits it perfectly. You will just sit there, and say something like: whoa, what the heck is going on!! Tetsuo II is completely different; hard to believe Tsukamoto also directed it. It is worth seeing only to fill in some of the holes the first movie leaves in the story. But unfortunately, the hyperkinetics and great visuals are completely gone. I did not give Tetsuo 5 stars because of an overly graphic section about midway through the movie; it is a humorous section initially (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), but Tsukamoto takes it too far. Otherwise, Tetsuo is a great movie. "Surreal Mechanical Horror..."Tetsuo is a surreal horror film about a hit and run accident where the driver begins to grow metal objects on his face. The metal objects are physical reminisce from the accident and it begins to physically haunt him. This metal curse grows worse, and the driver seem incapable of escaping his faith as he becomes dangerous for those around him. Tetsuo is a daunting cinematic experience with an interesting story and at moments the cinematography is remarkable. However, the very same cinematography uses several still shots put together to a continuous shot in order to create movement, which becomes repetitive and clumsy. This visual awkwardness creates a music video atmosphere that lowers the overall cinematic experience. |
