Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Stars: Tomoroh Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara. "What's it all about, Alfie?" will be the response of many to this Japanese oddity that The Village Voice called "one of the year's ten best." (Of course, if you were to strap a camcorder to a baby's butt and let him crawl through the local mall, The Village Voice would call the resultant film "art.") For sure, Tetsuo: The Iron Man is like nothing you've ever seen. Here's my take: a man and a woman hit a boy with their car. The dead boy has a piece of metal sticking out of his head. This sight produces divergent reactions in the man and woman: she's sexually excited; he spirals deeper and deeper into a mad guilt. Soon he begins to sprout mechanical apparatus all over his body (including a very disturbing misogynistic phallic drill with which he later impales his girlfriend). The increasingly metal "man" and the metal "boy" of his tortured mind eventually meet in a showdown, after which--in a fit of nihilistic joie de vivre--they pledge to go out and kick the world's butt just for fun. Now, the press release describes the plot in a totally different way, as would six different people who all saw the same film. To me, this is not a strong selling point. Still, there is some impressive stop-motion live animation and loads of gore and gruesome sights: it just won't make much sense to people. The critical success of this adult comic book-like film has already resulted in a sequel: Tetsuo II: Body Hammer. Ironically, the American short "Drum Struck," which is a Coen brother-like piece about dueling drummers that follows Iron Man, is actually a better film. Audience: This has been compared to David Lynch's Eraserhead, but whereas Lynch's weirdness is adult and complex, Iron Man's weirdness is strictly juvenile--it's a teenage headbanger's dream of macho power and female submission come to rather gross life. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review--July 12, 2005--Tartan, 67 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, $24.99--Making its second appearance on DVD, 1989's Tetsuo: The Iron Man sports a so-so transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS surround sound. DVD extras include trailers for other films by director Shinya Tsukamoto (including his 2004 film Vital), director and cast filmographies, production notes, and trailers. Bottom line: a disappointing extras package for a film that has achieved cult status amongst cyberpunk aficionados.]