Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Short Review Of Tetsuo The Iron Man

By Karyn Rojas

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.

The concept behind the movie was to make something like a monster film with a human sized badguy. The end result is sort of the Japanese answer to both David Cronenberg, and David Lynch's Eraserhead. It's definitely a strange journey full of unforgettable images, for better or for worse. The movie might be right up your alley, or it may leaving you simply scratching your head, but it's not an experience you'll forget any time soon.

This is really what Japanese cyberpunk is all about. It's not so much about the relation between man and computers as man and industrial concepts. So the film is filled with imagery of steam and steel and junkyards and factories. The closest comparison in American cyberpunk would be Robocop, set in the industrial city of Detroit. Although Robocop has nothing on this film's style.

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 movie primarily draws influence from Eraserhead and Cronenberg's Videodrome. A warning, if those movies made you squeamish, this one will, too.

Tsukamoto went on to create some of the greatest films ever to come from Japan, including Tokyo Fist, which is one of the greatest films ever made on the subject of the male ego. It's about what happens when two men who are at odds with one another absolutely refuse to back down no matter what, and how far conflict can go when it's not put in check.

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. - 40726

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