FILM REVIEW
TETSUO THE IRON MAN (1989)
Cult classic from Japan, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. A visually stunning, and often disturbing short movie (at just 67 minutes), about a metal fetishist who mutates into a metallic monster along with a hit and run driver who has left him for dead.
The un-named fetishist is seen at the beginning of the film trying to insert a large metal tube into his lower leg. The attempt is understandably extremely painful, and the leg quickly becomes infested with maggots. Shocked, he runs into the streets, and gets run over. The driver and his girlfriend dump the fetishist in a gully and assume he is dead, but he sees them making love to take their minds off the tragic events.
The driver now finds himself turning into metal. He finds a sliver of metal growing from his cheeks as he shaves. He bleeds profusely trying to get it out the grainy black and white film making the blood indistinguishable from machine oil. As his mutation begins to spread, he goes out, though strangely not immediately for medical attention. He then has a vision of his metalized robotic girlfriend pursuing him relentlessly, though this may be the fetishist in her form.
The fetishist also mutates at a frantic pace, growing exhaust pipes. Despite his uncontrollable metamorphosis, he tries to make love to his girlfriend, and eventually, his pennies emerges in full erection as a massive fully functional power drill, with which he pursues and ultimately rapes her, inevitably killing her. He is now attacked directly by the crazed and vengeful fetishist, as both men turn into metal monsters and chase each other in a very stylised fashion, across the city, with the fetishist determined to fuse the into one being, and make the whole world into a metal construct, doomed to rust away to nothing. The driver finally agrees to do it and the men seem to develop a homoerotic and nihilistic bond.
This is a freakish, unforgettable viewing experience, unnerving and captivating possibly the most deranged expression of cyberpunk on film, working well for not being done in anime. A follow up, Tetsuo 2 Body Hammer soon followed.
Link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuo:_The_Iron_Man
Arthur Chappell
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