Tetsuo - Iron Man - Thoughts

Just realised I've had this in a notepad for quite some time following a lack of internet connection when I watched it, and have yet bothered to upload it. Copy-pasting it here. Go.


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Tetsuo - The Iron Man - Budget Bodyhorror


Not certain what to think of it. To go through the whole film and it's plot would, I believe, be missing the point. Instead, I took most interest at the themes throughout it, those of violently graphic body horror and cyberpunk, with what looks to be a fairly low budget and with a total film crew that I believe in total dosen't surpass double digits.

Mostly I took the film of an example of stretching what one has and making the most of it with creative filming techniques and appropriate material (contrast with The Room). You can see it had a low budget, it can't hide this. But how it makes up for that is what becomes impressive.

The usage of sexual themes in the film also caught me by suprise. For the most part, sex either is included, and is general titilation and eroticism, or it is forgone entirely. In Tetsuo, in the most obvious sexual reference (in which the poor chap's Meat & Veg turn into a Black & Decker) serves only to make the scene more visceral, the sexuality of it all making it cut deeper to the gut (pun not intended), making it all the more sickening and personal, by striking from an angle we rarely expected. This, along with the not-so subtle comparisons with rape and abuse, create a mesh of twisted, truly discomforting themes, striking from so many emotional angles, that it distracts very successfully from the cheapness of the film.

The soundtrack was excellent and reinforced the cyberpunk theme to a tee, another fine example of money stretching. For the most part, the film made me think that it would have worked almost fine as a 'silent' film, with the soundtrack played over the top, forgoing the little speech there was in entirety.

However, aside from the positives, the plot was conveyed in such a way that it was confusing. Had it been simply the point of one mans struggle with this horrific metal-virus spreading through him, I would have been fine, but some characters seemed entirely unnecassary, serving only to complicate matters without adding much.

The jet-boot chase through a city also seemed fairly forced, not really meshing with the rest of the film which was very much clustered in one area.

All in all, I'd imagine the point of watching this was to give evidence of what can be done without a budget, but with pushing the limits on filming techniques. Ideas from it should come in handy with the AV piece, but I doubt ideas from it can fit into the other two parts.