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 follows a typical Japanese salary man who, for no reason at all, starts to sprout pieces of scrap metal from his body. It starts when he's shaving and pieces of... Aluminum cans or something start growing from his face. It's very strange. Eventually, he grows into a living, breathing heap of junk metal, and it winds up being a great example of Cronenberg's body horror genre.
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 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.
Tsukamoto has also developed into an interesting actor, mainly taking small parts in films by Takashi Miike, who has a similarly strange approach to filmmaking. Tsukamoto's career is definitely one to keep tabs on, as it's clear that, two decades after his debut, he's just getting started and still has plenty more surprises up his sleeves.
The movie follows a typical Japanese salary man who, for no reason at all, starts to sprout pieces of scrap metal from his body. It starts when he's shaving and pieces of... Aluminum cans or something start growing from his face. It's very strange. Eventually, he grows into a living, breathing heap of junk metal, and it winds up being a great example of Cronenberg's body horror genre.
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 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.
Tsukamoto has also developed into an interesting actor, mainly taking small parts in films by Takashi Miike, who has a similarly strange approach to filmmaking. Tsukamoto's career is definitely one to keep tabs on, as it's clear that, two decades after his debut, he's just getting started and still has plenty more surprises up his sleeves.
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