Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Dubbed “a cyberpunk Eraserhead” in Michael J. Weldon’s 1983 book The Psychotronic Video Guide, this defining Japanese cyberpunk film melds Cronenbergian body horror and Lynchian surrealism for a manic, man-versus-machine Tilt-a-Whirl. In a tech-age update to Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, an office worker wakes up to find he’s becoming a machine, a reality that sends him on a tear of ultraviolence. Unavailable theatrically for over thirty years, this new digital restoration showcases the no-holds-barred cinematography of filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto and star Kei Fujiwara; it’s an in-your-face excess of underground ethics and DIY spirit.
DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Shinya Tsukamoto. WITH: Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto. 1989. 67 min. Japan. B&W, Color. Japanese. Not rated. DCP.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
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