Other Titles • Tetsuo: The Ironman • The Ironman (1988)
Synopses for Tetsuo: The Ironman (1988)
1.
Somewhere between a modern-day nightmare and a techno-fetishist's ultimate fantasy is this extraordinary film from Shinya Tsukamoto (Vital, A Snake of June). A young man gradually mutates into a metal-being taking you on a surreal journey into a dark and disturbing world where self-inflicted body transformations and post-human women form the fabric of a strange new reality. Likened to the work of David Lynch and David Cronenberg, Tetsuo: The Iron Man molds explosive violence, bizarre imagery and jet-black humor into a cinematic experience like you've never seen.
2.
Shinya Tsukamoto draws on the marriage of flesh and technology that inspires so much of David Cronenberg's work and then twists it into a manga-influenced cyberpunk vision. A man (Tomoroh Taguchi) awakens from a nightmare in which his body is helplessly fusing with the metal objects around him, only to find it happening to him in real life... or is it? Haunted by memories of a hit and run (eerily prophetic of Cronenberg's Crash), the man knows this ordeal could be a dream, a fantastic form of divine retribution, or perhaps technological mutation born of guilt and rage. Shot in bracing black and white on a small budget, Tsukamoto puts a demented conceptual twist on good old-fashioned stop-motion effects and simple wire work, giving his film the surreal quality of a waking dream with a psychosexual edge (resulting in the film's most disturbing scene). The story ultimately takes on an abstract quality enhanced by the grungy look and increasingly wild images as they take to the streets in a mad chase of technological speed demons. This first entry in his self-titled "Regular Sized Monster Series" is followed by a full-color sequel, Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer, which trades the muddy experimental atmosphere for a big-budget sheen but can't top the cybershock to the system this movie packs. --Sean Axmaker
3.
Somewhere between a modern day nightmare and a techno fetishist's ultimate fantasy, this extraordinary black and white film from Shinya Tsukamoto caused a sensation when it was first released, and spawned a companion piece, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer.
It starts with a bizarre merging of flesh and metal and accelerates into a hyper-hallucinatory state where springs, wires and solder erupt fountain-like from a man''s body, fueled by cyberpunk sensuality and wrought iron perversion.
Concerning itself with a young man's gradual mutation into a metal-being, the film takes a surreal journey into a dark and disturbing world where D.I.Y. body transformations and post-human women with deadly robot arms form the fabric of a strange new reality.
Likened to the work of Lynch and Cronenberg, Tetsuo moulds explosive violence, bizarre sexual imagery and jet-black humour into a cinematic experience like you've never seen before.
4.
When an office worker and his girlfriend hit a metal fetishist in their car, they are thrown into a nightmarish world they may never escape from. The day after the accident, the office worker finds a metal whisker growing out of his face. This is soon followed my more metal growing out of him, and as he loses his sanity, his body becomes more taken over by machines and metal. And he still has to deal with the man/woman rust monster on jet-powered skates.
A visually arresting and highly disturbing urban flight of fancy from Japanese auteur Tsukamoto, who also starred, wrote, shot, and edited. A buttoned-up Japanese commuter accidentally rams his car into a cyberpunky "metal fetishist" (Tsukamoto) whose jollies include transplating metal parts into his body. After this encounter, the businessman begins inexplicably transforming into a metal man-machine, and soon finds himself merging identities (and bodies) with the similarly mechanized fetishist. Followed by a sequel, "Tetsuo II: Bodyhammer."
5.
A visually arresting and highly disturbing urban flight of fancy from Japanese auteur Tsukamoto, who also starred, wrote, shot, and edited. A buttoned-up Japanese commuter accidentally rams his car into a cyberpunky "metal fetishist" (Tsukamoto) whose jollies include transplating metal parts into his body. After this encounter, the businessman begins inexplicably transforming into a metal man-machine, and soon finds himself merging identities (and bodies) with the similarly mechanized fetishist. Followed by a sequel, "Tetsuo II: Bodyhammer." Also features cult short "Drum Struck."
6.
TETSUO: THE IRON MAN starts with a bizarre merging of flesh and metal and accelerates into a hyper-hallucinatory state where springs, wires and solder erupt fountain-like from a man's body, fueled by cyberpunk sensuality and wrought iron perversion.
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