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Review: Tetsuo (1988)

Tetsuo (1988) Review by Ben Affleck.

This is one hell of a tough review to write, let me state that now. Purely because this is one of the most bizarre movies i've ever seen since the arduous tattle of Lynch's Eraserhead a few years back.

Director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo II, Tokyo Fist etc) picks up on the twisted 'normalities' of such movies as Eraserhead and Blue Velvet to name a couple, almost becoming the prodigical son of David Lynch; with this bizarre and somewhat eye-opening movie, Testuo: The Iron Man.

Released way back in 1988 it (bizarrely) tells the story of a man with a fetish for metal. A man who has developed and matured his fetish in to something so extreme and advanced, that he is prepared to go to a higher level and so begins to cut open his body to insert pieces of metal to his flesh, a true coming together of man and machine so to speak.

His body becomes enlightened by the fusion of flesh and metal and so, when one morning he peers in to his bathroom mirror to see a strand of metal growing out of his chin, it is then that this fusion has developed and advanced beyond his means of control. And so the 'Iron Man' is born and this movie depicts his hellish nightmare as he struggles to control the development of man melding to machine to become one.

Tetsuo is one bizarre movie, if you haven't watched an arthouse movie before, or have not seen such classics as Eraserhead et al then you are in for one helluva bumpy ride. In fact you'll probably hate this movie. Watch it again though, watch it several times and you'll begin to open your mind to it's (albeit) scarey and somewhat psychedelic prowess. This is filmaking at it's most violent, most bizarre and ultimately distorted best.

Tsukamoto spares no expense in throwing the whole movie industry blueprint for filmaking on to the fire, shouting "fuck you!" as loudly as possible, then proceeding to brutally punch and beat the viewers of his movies in to submission with huge, weighty attacks of insane and repulsive sounds and imagery. The acting in this movie is absolutely stunning. Tomoro Taguchi is amazing and his strengths as an actor lead you to believe he is genuinely suffering the torture of the whole flesh to metal sequence. By the end of the movie he looks completely fucked like he's been to hell and back. The guy gave his all to the role and it is clearly noticable as you watch the movie.

Tetsuo: The Iron man leaves little to the imagination, in fact, scrap that, you can't even begin to imagine what this movie has in store for you. It's just a big melting pot of everything you've never thought of in one tight, sparkly package. I loved this movie, solely because it dares to be different to everything. As Lynch moved on to more mainstream cinema after the par excellence of Eraserhead, so Tsukamoto picks up where he left off; and he makes a fantastic job of it too.

Prepare to be punished. Prepare to embrace your ultimate nightmare. Prepare to watch one of the most brilliant and clever movies ever made.

Final Score: 10/10 ''Together, we can turn this fucking world to rust!''

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0096251