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From: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: TETSUO: THE IRON MAN
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01444
Keywords: author=Brenner
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Date: 22 Jul 92 13:50:20 GMT
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Reply-To: doom@leland.Stanford.EDU (Joseph Brenner)
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			     TETSUO: THE IRON MAN
		       A film review by Joseph Brenner
			Copyright 1992 Joseph Brenner

     A Japanese, arty flick, which supposedly uses horror movie tropes
to make some sort of cyberpunk comment on modern culture.  It's got some
moments, but it's mostly just dull and stupid.

     To understand the plot of this movie, it helps a lot to read one of
the newspaper reviews that are floating around.  There's nothing
particularly deep about it, but the movie isn't very good at
communicating what's supposed to be happening: a "metal fetishist"
inserts a piece of rusty metal tubing into his leg, freaks out and runs
in front of a car which is being driven by a "salary man" and his girl
friend.  The salary man then seems to be infected with some sort of
disease that progressively transforms him into metal.  The thankfully
black and white look of this movie, involves various disgusting looking
chaotic masses of old machine parts protruding from peoples bodies (like
VIDEODROME, but not done as well).  

     In the only scene that's worth anything in the movie, the "salary
man" undergoes the bulk of his transformation into metal while making
love with his girlfriend.  At first it seems like they might do
something interesting with it (she says something like "No, show it to
me.  I don't frighten easily."), but it degenerates into the usual
horror movie hysterics (a suggestion for directors: prevent the actors
from screaming, using gags if necessary).  Anyway, he emerges from
hiding covered in metal, his penis transformed into a huge power drill.
They spend some time running around, fighting.  While she has him
briefly subdued, there's a hint that she's turned on by his new body,
but he kills her with his cool new tool.  It isn't clear if she meant
for this to happen, but if you believe the reviews she "dies in
ecstasy."

     I might excuse the excesses and clumsiness of this movie if I
thought they really had something worthwhile to say, but they just
don't.  This whole business about the transformation "just happening"
like some sort of disease is dumb any way you look at it.  Cyberpunk is
about turning yourself into a monster *on purpose*, not by accident.
And this general theme of technology being out of control, an
implacable, inhuman force ... it isn't just wrong, it's old and stale
too.

     (Oh, the music is pretty good though.  If you're into moody
industrial music, you might want to check out the sound track.  For that
matter, this movie would probably be okay as a dance club light show).