Was it Devo or Neil Young who said “rust never sleeps?” Not only is rust not sleeping, it’s on the warpath in Tetsuo: Iron Man, the 1998 body modification nightmare from Japanese auteur Shinya Tsukamoto. It’s a vision that almost exists outside time, cinema that would be as shocking if it was released now as it was 19 years ago. Testsuo is a new form of film making: abrupt, violent, imaginative; it’s a nightmare vision that was lumped into the cyberpunk movement when it was first released. It’s the place where flesh and metal intersect. It’s a frenetic harrowing work which begins when a salaryman notices a metal spine growing out of his cheek and descends into this urban post industrial hell, in which his intense rage and sexual desires create horrific changes in his bodily structure. Part Eraserhead, part low rent junkyard Terminator we’re entering a surreal and violent subculture. There are Lynch and Cronenberg territory here, yet they’ve never been so raw and filled with energy.
Tsukamoto’ follow up, Body Hammer, filmed four years later, replaces the black and white with colour and again utilises the concept of rage causing bizarre physical changes. Again there’ an abundance of incredibly disturbing scenes, one in particular in which two young boys witness their parents having sex using a loaded gun as a sex toy, causing the kids to exact revenge after an accident. It’s the kind of scene that will stay with you. It’s extreme cinema, yet it’s also amazingly imaginative and unlike anything else. Ever. Unfortunately Tsukamoto has never been able to live up to the disturbing promise of these two films, and though he continues to make strange highly personal films to this day such as Snake of June and Gemini, he’ moved beyond the rapid fire freneticisim, adopting more conventional cinematic techniques. There have however been rumours about a third sequel, possibly Flying Tetsuo or Tetsuo in America to complete a trilogy. We can live in hope.
Extra Features:
Only some stills and trailers for each film.
Bob Baker Fish
