Tetsuo Ironman was the debut film by the legendary Japanese film director Shinya Tsukamoto. The film is of course in another language, but you should consider putting it on your downloads queue next time you sign into your movie download service because it’s not THAT kind of foreign movie. It’s a horror action film, so there’s always something happening on screen. The dialog isn’t what’s important. You can follow the story with the subtitles off and still understand it about as well as anyone else… Which isn’t saying much, considering how strange the film is.

The main character is a Japanese salary man who is sort of the Japanese equivalent of the “everyman” character. One day, metal starts growing from his body for… Well, pretty much no reason at all. It’s really the same sort of Japanese surrealism as Kobo Abe writes, and drives home the same basic idea, that life is strange and unpredictable.

The movie was based on the idea of making a monster movie like Godzilla, but with a human sized beast. So the Salary Man, as he transforms more and more into a heaping hunk of metal, has to do battle with Tetsuo, who, also, has grown into a heap of metal. They have a showdown in a junkyard where both have developed the ability to absorb all of the metal around them through… Magnetism, or chemistry or something. Your guess is as good as anyone else’s.

The movie really helped to define Japanese cyberpunk. There had been earlier efforts in the genre such as Burst City, but this one was the one that really defined the genre as being about industrialism and the Frankenstein-esque relations between man and machine. Where American cyberpunk tends to focus on the computer age, Japanese cyberpunk is more about antiquated machinery and post WWII fear.

The movie is fast paced, sort of confusing, but ultimately, it really works well as a sort of horror movie slash action flick. It has an incredible nightmarish look to it, utilizing stop motion special effects, cheap props and costume that look more real because they’re not makeup. They actually glued pieces of metal to the actors faces in order to get the look they were going for.

The film draws a lot of influence from two sources: Eraserhead, and David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Both of these films greatly contributed to its look, with Shinya Tsukamoto being a particularly big fan of Cronenberg’s entire library of work. A warning, though, if those movies made you squeamish, this one will make you twice as squeamish. As surreal as the imagery is, it still might gross you out just a bit.

Tsukamoto went on to create some of the greatest films ever to come from Japan, including Tokyo Fist, which is one of the greatest films ever made on the subject of the male ego. It’s about what happens when two men who are at odds with one another absolutely refuse to back down no matter what, and how far conflict can go when it’s not put in check.

Tsukamoto is also an interesting actor, doing some bit parts for various Takashi Miike films. He also has another Tetsuo movie coming out, Tetsuo: Bulletman. It’s clear that, while he’s already been making movies for twenty years, he is nevertheless just now warming up.

Quite confusing hmmm, imagine Disco Biscuits use all these techniques in their music. Online Movie Downloads Bigger doesnt necessarily make you play any better! A very good example of a cowboy would be a drummer for a rock band.

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