A deeply bizarre Japanese cult horror that seems way ahead of its time - the unsettlingly fast editing, excellent B&W cinematography and stop motion trickery all add to the strangeness of a man gradually turning into a machine. Close attention is required to follow what there is of a plot as it unfolds gradually while bombarding the viewer with extraordinary imagery that can only be likened to an art house mash-up of early David Lynch, J-Horror, Sam Raimi and Otomo's Akira. Absolutely unique and extremely well done.
A film that redefines weird completely bizarre and insane even by the standards of much of Japanese cinema. Meaning that in the end I was left perhaps to bemused and confused to find it scary though.
An extremely weird mess of images, special effects and ideas meshed together in monochrome black and white on an obviously low budget. Sometimes interesting in the search for truth or meaning in the cryptic and surreal images, but more often tedious as the images blink rapidly and shift with no detectable rhyme or reason. The effect is that of particpating in a nightmare - which unfortunatly turns out to be more bad than good - but the director deserves some credit for trying something bold and original.
I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I expected to, but I'd be insane to not recognise the ambition behind this. I'll definitely re-watch it again. Godspeed You, Shinya Tsukamoto!
A delightfully deranged and disturbing industrial horror film. Reminded me a lot of The Fly but it was filmed a lot lile Pi. Definitely a recommend if you're a fan of Cronenburg or Lynch!
This is bound to be a divisive one, but I fall heavily in the 'brilliant' camp. Visually brilliant (clearly a huge influence on Darren Aronofsky's 'Pi'), and with some well-used symbolism.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 23
dombrewer
A deeply bizarre Japanese cult horror that seems way ahead of its time - the unsettlingly fast editing, excellent B&W cinematography and stop motion trickery all add to the strangeness of a man gradually turning into a machine. Close attention is required to follow what there is of a plot as it unfolds gradually while bombarding the viewer with extraordinary imagery that can only be likened to an art house mash-up of early David Lynch, J-Horror, Sam Raimi and Otomo's Akira. Absolutely unique and extremely well done.the3rdman
Somewhere Cronenberg is very pleased. Tsukamoto is severely deranged.tipam
A film that redefines weird completely bizarre and insane even by the standards of much of Japanese cinema. Meaning that in the end I was left perhaps to bemused and confused to find it scary though.Strangely entertaining though.
IamtheHBOMB
The most batshit insane movie I've ever seen.Zeltaebar
An extremely weird mess of images, special effects and ideas meshed together in monochrome black and white on an obviously low budget. Sometimes interesting in the search for truth or meaning in the cryptic and surreal images, but more often tedious as the images blink rapidly and shift with no detectable rhyme or reason. The effect is that of particpating in a nightmare - which unfortunatly turns out to be more bad than good - but the director deserves some credit for trying something bold and original.sammysin
A real mindscrew. I felt that it was way ahead of its time.Drill boner was funny as Hell!
TeaDrinker3000
I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I expected to, but I'd be insane to not recognise the ambition behind this. I'll definitely re-watch it again. Godspeed You, Shinya Tsukamoto!mi-16evil
A delightfully deranged and disturbing industrial horror film. Reminded me a lot of The Fly but it was filmed a lot lile Pi. Definitely a recommend if you're a fan of Cronenburg or Lynch!Xondar
I think the word that best describes this film is: Cronenbergesque.seithscott
Insanity, with a touch of love and revenge and world domination.Phantasmagoria0
industrial film for industrial peoplePanunzio
This is bound to be a divisive one, but I fall heavily in the 'brilliant' camp. Visually brilliant (clearly a huge influence on Darren Aronofsky's 'Pi'), and with some well-used symbolism.It's a wild ride.
Siskoid
Perhaps the purest piece of cyberpunk ever put to film, Tetsuo the Iron Man is an upsettingly bizarre, almost dialog-less surreal nightmare about a man slowly turning to a machine, and so symbolically encapsulates the "punk" in the genre, by making the anxieties associated with mechanized society manifest in the goriest, most effed-up manner possible. With a black and white aesthetic that evokes La Jetée more than anything contemporaneously made in 1989 (Tetsuo feels both retro and well ahead of its time), it starts as disturbing horror, but in the final act oddly becomes a kind of lo-fi stop-motion superhero narrative, as the lead character comes to accept what he has become. But what of the flashbacks to the moment that created this situation, when he perhaps became one with a killing machine--? I'm interpreting, the film doesn't give up its secrets so easily. At barely over an hour, and yet so relentless it feels much longer, there is a lot of rewatch value, trying to figure out meanings behind meanings. Beyond its surface theme, Tetsuo could be about any transformation, evolution, or acknowledgment of the self, most prominently on first viewing, puberty and queerness. But to properly apply those lenses, one must sit down and watch it again. Few would dare.Torgo
Our love can destroy this whole fucking world. <3robokop
Wierd!but good
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