Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1992)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

An Exercise In Nonsense

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Hear me out, before you condemn me. WE RELY ON TECHNOLOGY NOW THAT WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT! What did they countless of millions of people before us do, when they had no technology? Tetsuo could be seen as a metaphor for technology in the modern world and how it impacts our daily lives. I mean we see throughout the film that the man has all this metal stuck to him and growing in him and compare it to how technology has effected us, we have got to a stage where we can't live without it, like the man in the film, the more he fought it, the more the process progressed, until he eventually got use to it. My point is that we use all this technology and we literally can't live without it, its stuck to us like the metal was stuck to the man.I can only imagine when it was first released what people thought! "My god!", they were saying. "How absurd!", they quipped. Alas, little did the people know that this was a cautionary tale to future generations. Unfortunately, we did not heed the not too subtle warning of Tetsuo. The all too chilling end is where society is now - "Our love can put an end to this fooking world. Let's Go!" - this quote from the end of the film can be seen as our love for technology - can put will end to face to face interaction as we know it. More kids nowadays are being exposed to technology at a younger age. When I was a kid I use to ask for a bike for my birthday but now you have kids who are asking for tablets and laptops. I shudder at the thought! I make no apologies for rambling. It ends with a horrific coming together of these two men and all the accumulated metal they have obtained. Tetsuo ends with the words "GAME OVER" as opposed to "The End" after the closing credits.Not as preposterous as you would think...

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is about a man deeply insecure about his sexuality. In his nightmare his girlfriend terrorizes and ultimately rapes him with her evil snake penis. When he awakens they have sex, and he is fully in control. During the penis drill sequence his is overcome with rage and lust, but in the end the Girlfriend defeats him. She straddles him: now she is in control of the sexual situation. Later, he finds himself fighting with, and ultimately united with the Metal Fetishist as they romantically float in the nude in their shared cocoon. At the conclusion the Salary Man is one with his new male partner, and he is the bottom portion. As he moans out words he drools semen-like fluid. He has literally become a penis; he has become comfortable with his sexuality.That's my quick and dirty interpretation. The film indulges in its action sequences and its plot twist, and the sex stuff is obviously tongue-in-cheek: the penis drill is in equal parts a poetic symbol and a hilarious gag.Most of the sequences could be cut by a couple of minutes and the film would be better for it. Overall I recommend the film. Sometimes I wonder what Lynch or Cronenberg film would be like if all the "normal" stuff was removed. This is what you'd get! 67 minutes of fury, sex, and furious sex.

A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend.The film draws inspiration from the 1988 film "Akira". Although not exactly clear, it seems like something between David Lynch's "Eraserhead" and some of the stranger films of the 1990s. The imagery and music strongly evoke industrial music culture, which at this point was really in its infancy, not breaking for a few years. This film seems to have been an influence on Trent Reznor for such videos as "Happiness in Slavery", though it may be coincidental.I am a bit surprised to see I was not familiar with any of Shinya Tsukamoto's work, including this film, despite my deep passion for horror and science fiction. I am quite familiar with the films of Takashi Miike, who is clearly a pupil of Tsukamoto.

Just watched this movie last night, after hearing about it's comparison with another surrealist movie, Eraserhead. To compare both movies as the same is quite illogical really, the similarities are the analog method of filming and the industrial setting, but that's where the similarities end. This film is not for everyone, or to be precise a casual viewer. Those into mind-trips would enjoy this one, i did too, but in my personal view it's been over hyped really. It's a decent story, but the highs of this film has to be the special effects and the background score of which was made with minimal budget. Credit has to be given for Shinya Tsukamoto for his excellent effort. Overall, an above average film that might turn off some, but will linger in the thoughts of all for some time.