Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Written By: DMG
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Producer: Shinya Tsukamoto
Screenwriter: Shinya Tsukamoto
Date Released: July 1, 1989
Cast:
Tomorowo Taguchi as Man (Salaryman)
Kei Fujiwara as Woman (Girlfriend)
Nobu Kanaoka as Woman in Glasses
Shinya Tsukamoto as Guy (Metal Fetishist)[a]
Naomasa Musaka as Doctor
Renji Ishibashi as Tramp
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) is a story about an ordinary man who struggles as he begins his transformation into a metal being. As the man is unable to control his continual mutation into a pile of scrap metal, his entire world is unexplainably changed forever.
Gore Factor
This film incorporates a mixture of gore and sexually suggestive illustrations while the man is mutating into a metal being. In one scene, the man has a giant metal drill in place of the man’s genitals that cuts through a woman when they are having sex. There are similar situations throughout the 67-minute film that are equally strange and disturbing.
The Grave Review
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a film that intentionally has no plot. The best way to describe this film is an abstract noir film that incorporates experimental and unique camera work. Much of the film uses stop motion and sped up footage in order to create disturbing and unsettling images of junk yard scrap metal. Each scene must have taken a long time to put together. For example, when the man who is mutating into a metal being is seen, there are various articles of metal that form around his body. Each scene would have had to be placed piece by piece on his body. Such an endeavor would take a long time to put together, similar to any other stop-motion film.
There are multiple ways you can interpret this obscure film. Tetsuo shows sexual and angry images that could be interpreted from a technological or sexual angle. The over-the-top images of this film deserves much praise from an artistic perspective. However, Tetsuo is bizarre and unorthodox which may leave viewers confused. This is a film where you should appreciate both the pre-production and post-production talent but does not extend beyond those aspects.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) two and one-half graves out of five graves.
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