Tetsuo Iron Man was the debut feature from the unpredictable Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto. It's a foreign film, but it's not THAT kind of foreign film. As in, don't think you're going to be sitting there reading subtitles. There's really very little dialog in the film, and what's there isn't usually important. It plays something like a silent film, so definitely put it in your queue the next time you log into your movie download service, whether or not you're usually a fan of Japanese cinema.
The movie focuses on a Japanese salary man who suddenly starts sprouting pieces of scrap metal from his body one day. It's very much in the same category as Japanese surrealist authors like Kobo Abe, where weird things just suddenly start happening for no real reason in particular. It kind of drives home the point that... Life is weird and unpredictable, and there's really no inherent meaning to it all so... Just enjoy the long strange trip for what it is.
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 style of the movie is what really makes it special. It's fast, it's confusing, it looks like a nightmare with a stark black and white look. It really does feel more like a bad dream than it does like anything that could ever happen in real life.
Besides Eraserhead, the movie also draws a lot of inspiration from Cronenberg's Videodrome, starring James Woods. It uses some of the same recurring images of flickering television sets and grotesque horror sights. So, a warning, if that movie made you squeamish, this one will, too.
Tsukamoto has since created some of the greatest films to come out of Japan in the last few decades. In particular, Tokyo Fist is a real classic, and one of the greatest films ever made on the subject of the male ego and what can happen when a conflict is allowed to snowball with neither side backing down. It's really a great, deep look at what it means to be a man.
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 movie focuses on a Japanese salary man who suddenly starts sprouting pieces of scrap metal from his body one day. It's very much in the same category as Japanese surrealist authors like Kobo Abe, where weird things just suddenly start happening for no real reason in particular. It kind of drives home the point that... Life is weird and unpredictable, and there's really no inherent meaning to it all so... Just enjoy the long strange trip for what it is.
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 style of the movie is what really makes it special. It's fast, it's confusing, it looks like a nightmare with a stark black and white look. It really does feel more like a bad dream than it does like anything that could ever happen in real life.
Besides Eraserhead, the movie also draws a lot of inspiration from Cronenberg's Videodrome, starring James Woods. It uses some of the same recurring images of flickering television sets and grotesque horror sights. So, a warning, if that movie made you squeamish, this one will, too.
Tsukamoto has since created some of the greatest films to come out of Japan in the last few decades. In particular, Tokyo Fist is a real classic, and one of the greatest films ever made on the subject of the male ego and what can happen when a conflict is allowed to snowball with neither side backing down. It's really a great, deep look at what it means to be a man.
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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