Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Encyclopedia
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a 1989
Japanese cyberpunk
film by cult-film director Shinya Tsukamoto
produced by Japan Home Video
. This, his third film, is an extremely graphic but also strikingly-filmed fantasy shot in the same low-budget, underground
-production style as his first two films. Tetsuo established Tsukamoto internationally and created his worldwide cult following. It was followed by Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
(1992) and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
(2009).
"), cutting open a massive gash in his leg and then shoving a large threaded steel rod into the wound. Later, upon seeing maggots festering in the wound, he screams, runs out into the street, and is hit by a car. The driver of the car, a Japanese businessman (Tomorowo Taguchi
), and his girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara
) try to cover up the mess by dumping the body into a ravine, but the dumped man gets revenge by forcing the businessman's body to gradually metamorphose
into a walking pile of scrap metal. This process starts when the driver finds a piece of metal stuck in his cheek while shaving. He tries to remove it, but realizes it is growing from the inside.
The scene shifts to the businessman at his home having breakfast, with a bandage over his cheek. The businessman receives a phone call, consisting of nothing but him and the other speaker (possibly his girlfriend) continuously saying "Hello?" to each other and thinking back to having sex after dumping the Metal Fetishist.
The first of several highly stylized chase scenes starts with the driver pursued through an underground train station by a woman whose body has been taken over by the Metal Fetishist. The businessman seems to win this encounter by breaking the back of the radically transformed woman (she begins the sequence as a demure office worker and ends it as a wild metal-infected woman) after even more metal has erupted on his ankles and arm.
The next segment is a terrifying dream sequence where the businessman's girlfriend, transformed into an exotic dancer with a snake-like metal probe, terrorizes and rapes the businessman. After waking from this dream, the businessman and his girlfriend have sex at his apartment and eat erotically. As she eats each bite given to her, he hears the sounds of metal scraping. The businessman suddenly discovers his penis has mutated into a gargantuan power drill
. A fight ensues where the businessman terrorizes his girlfriend, and acquires more and more metal on his body. She fights back and in the end impales herself on his drill and dies.
Helpless to do anything, the businessman, now the Iron Man, is visited by the Metal Fetishist, who emerges from his dead girlfriend's corpse to show him a vision of a "New World" of nothing but metal and turn his cats into grotesque metal creatures. The Iron Man flees and is followed by the Metal Fetishist into an abandoned building. After the Metal Fetishist explains to the Iron Man how both of them became what they are, a final battle ensues. The Iron Man ends by attempting to merge himself with the Fetishist into a horrific two-headed metal monster. The two agree to turn the whole world into metal and rust it, scattering it into the dust of the universe by claiming "Our love can put an end to this fucking world. Let's Go!" The duo charges through the streets of Japan. The film ends with the words "GAME OVER" as opposed to "The End" after the closing credits.
Super-8 cameras. The camera work was split between himself and Kei Fujiwara
both of whom also play the roles of major characters. (Fujiwara has since directed several of her own films.)
theatrically in the United States
by Original Cinema
in 1992. It was subsequently released on VHS
by Fox Lorber.
The film was released twice on DVD
in in the United States; by Image Entertainment
in 1998 and by Tartan Video in 2005. Both releases are currently out of print
.
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
Japanese cyberpunk
Japanese cyberpunk
Japanese Cyberpunk is a genre of underground film produced in Japan starting in the late 1980s. The genre is not very closely related to Cyberpunk as understood in the west — the focus is industrial and incomprehensible, not high-tech and scientific...
film by cult-film director Shinya Tsukamoto
Shinya Tsukamoto
is a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.-Biography:Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera. He made a number of films, ranging...
produced by Japan Home Video
Japan Home Video
is a Japanese media corporation which produces and distributes film and video products and is also involved in TV programming and game software. It uses the label for its adult video production.-Company history and finances:...
. This, his third film, is an extremely graphic but also strikingly-filmed fantasy shot in the same low-budget, underground
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
-production style as his first two films. Tetsuo established Tsukamoto internationally and created his worldwide cult following. It was followed by Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer
Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is a 1992 Japanese science fiction/horror film directed byShinya Tsukamoto. It is a bigger-budget reworking of the same director's 1989 movie Tetsuo: The Iron Man, utilizing similar themes and ideas to the earlier film Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is a 1992 Japanese science...
(1992) and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man is the third film in Shinya Tsukamoto's cyberpunk film series, and the first to be filmed in English.-Plot:Anthony is a man with an American father and a deceased Japanese mother living and working in Tokyo. One day his son is run over and killed by Yatsu, this film's version...
(2009).
Plot
The film opens with a man (called only "the man", or the "Metal FetishistFetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
"), cutting open a massive gash in his leg and then shoving a large threaded steel rod into the wound. Later, upon seeing maggots festering in the wound, he screams, runs out into the street, and is hit by a car. The driver of the car, a Japanese businessman (Tomorowo Taguchi
Tomorowo Taguchi
is a Japanese actor.After leaving Dokkyo University without graduating, he started to earn his living as an illustrator, writer and pornographic cartoonist. He joined a theatre called Hakken no Kai in 1978 and he made a screen debut in Zokubutsu Zukan in 1982...
), and his girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara
Kei Fujiwara
is a Japanese actress, cinematographer, editor, writer and film director. Her first role was in the American film, The Neptune Factor, but she is perhaps best known for starring in the Japanese cult film, Tetsuo: The Iron Man...
) try to cover up the mess by dumping the body into a ravine, but the dumped man gets revenge by forcing the businessman's body to gradually metamorphose
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
into a walking pile of scrap metal. This process starts when the driver finds a piece of metal stuck in his cheek while shaving. He tries to remove it, but realizes it is growing from the inside.
The scene shifts to the businessman at his home having breakfast, with a bandage over his cheek. The businessman receives a phone call, consisting of nothing but him and the other speaker (possibly his girlfriend) continuously saying "Hello?" to each other and thinking back to having sex after dumping the Metal Fetishist.
The first of several highly stylized chase scenes starts with the driver pursued through an underground train station by a woman whose body has been taken over by the Metal Fetishist. The businessman seems to win this encounter by breaking the back of the radically transformed woman (she begins the sequence as a demure office worker and ends it as a wild metal-infected woman) after even more metal has erupted on his ankles and arm.
The next segment is a terrifying dream sequence where the businessman's girlfriend, transformed into an exotic dancer with a snake-like metal probe, terrorizes and rapes the businessman. After waking from this dream, the businessman and his girlfriend have sex at his apartment and eat erotically. As she eats each bite given to her, he hears the sounds of metal scraping. The businessman suddenly discovers his penis has mutated into a gargantuan power drill
Drill
A drill or drill motor is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for drilling holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners. The attachment is gripped by a chuck at one end of...
. A fight ensues where the businessman terrorizes his girlfriend, and acquires more and more metal on his body. She fights back and in the end impales herself on his drill and dies.
Helpless to do anything, the businessman, now the Iron Man, is visited by the Metal Fetishist, who emerges from his dead girlfriend's corpse to show him a vision of a "New World" of nothing but metal and turn his cats into grotesque metal creatures. The Iron Man flees and is followed by the Metal Fetishist into an abandoned building. After the Metal Fetishist explains to the Iron Man how both of them became what they are, a final battle ensues. The Iron Man ends by attempting to merge himself with the Fetishist into a horrific two-headed metal monster. The two agree to turn the whole world into metal and rust it, scattering it into the dust of the universe by claiming "Our love can put an end to this fucking world. Let's Go!" The duo charges through the streets of Japan. The film ends with the words "GAME OVER" as opposed to "The End" after the closing credits.
Cast
- Tomorowo TaguchiTomorowo Taguchiis a Japanese actor.After leaving Dokkyo University without graduating, he started to earn his living as an illustrator, writer and pornographic cartoonist. He joined a theatre called Hakken no Kai in 1978 and he made a screen debut in Zokubutsu Zukan in 1982...
- Man - Kei FujiwaraKei Fujiwarais a Japanese actress, cinematographer, editor, writer and film director. Her first role was in the American film, The Neptune Factor, but she is perhaps best known for starring in the Japanese cult film, Tetsuo: The Iron Man...
- Woman - Nobu Kanaoka - Woman in Glasses
- Shinya TsukamotoShinya Tsukamotois a Japanese film director and actor with a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad.-Biography:Tsukamoto started making movies at the age of 14, when his father gave him a Super 8 camera. He made a number of films, ranging...
- Metal Fetishist - Naomasa Musaka - Doctor
- Renji Ishibashi - Tramp
Cinematography
This was Tsukamoto's first movie to be shot on 16mm, all of his previous work being done withSuper-8 cameras. The camera work was split between himself and Kei Fujiwara
Kei Fujiwara
is a Japanese actress, cinematographer, editor, writer and film director. Her first role was in the American film, The Neptune Factor, but she is perhaps best known for starring in the Japanese cult film, Tetsuo: The Iron Man...
both of whom also play the roles of major characters. (Fujiwara has since directed several of her own films.)
Release
The film was given a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
theatrically in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Original Cinema
Original Cinema
Original Cinema is the twenty-sixth album by Spyro Gyra, recorded and released on February 25, 2003 .- Review :A slightly sharper edge surfaces in Spyro Gyra's second effort for the Telarc-affiliated Heads Up label. While their performance still tilts more toward easy listening than searing fusion,...
in 1992. It was subsequently released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
by Fox Lorber.
The film was released twice on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in in the United States; by Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
in 1998 and by Tartan Video in 2005. Both releases are currently out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
.