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IMDb > Tetsuo (1989)
Tetsuo
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Tetsuo (1989) -- Open-ended Trailer from Original Cinema
Tetsuo (1989) -- CineMagia.ro - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.0/10   5,395 votes
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Director:
Writer:
Shinya Tsukamoto (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Tetsuo, the Iron Man on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 July 1989 (Japan) more
Genre:
Plot:
A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body... more | full synopsis
Awards:
2 wins more
User Reviews:
F***ed up but fun and cool more (118 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)
Tomorowo Taguchi ... Man
Kei Fujiwara ... Woman
Nobu Kanaoka ... Woman in Glasses
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Renji Ishibashi ... Tramp
Naomasa Musaka ... Doctor
Shinya Tsukamoto ... Metals Fetishist
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Directed by
Shinya Tsukamoto 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Shinya Tsukamoto  writer

Produced by
Shinya Tsukamoto .... producer
 
Original Music by
Chu Ishikawa 
 
Cinematography by
Kei Fujiwara 
Shinya Tsukamoto 
 
Film Editing by
Shinya Tsukamoto 
 
Art Direction by
Shinya Tsukamoto 
 
Costume Design by
Kei Fujiwara 
 

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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Tetsuo, the Iron Man (USA)
The Ironman
more
Runtime:
67 min | Argentina:69 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Referenced in Dead Leaves (2004) (V) more

FAQ

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19 out of 33 people found the following review useful.
F***ed up but fun and cool, 7 December 2002
8/10
Author: rottingcarrot (rottingcarrot@hotmail.com) from Toronto Canada

Tetsuo or Ironman is a very interesting movie that explores the themes of metal and flesh and how they interact......I think. The story is sketchy at best, it's more of a visual assault on the senses. Tetsuo is some regular looking Japanese business man type dude who has a girlfriend. One day while shaving he notices a shard of metal protruding from his face. Metallic pieces of metal start spreading all over his face and then leave, and then return again until eventually his body becomes more metal than man. There is some kind of subplot of how he came to get this strange desease. Tetsuo and his girlfriend hit some guy (who just before cut open his leg and jammed an iron bar into the slit) with their car. They take his body out into the forest to hide it -i think- and then have sex in front of the corpse for a thrill. The guy isn't dead though and somehow he gives tetsuo the desease -i think-. He comes back to haunt tetsuo as tetsuo turns into a human scrapyard and then attacks him physically in a very strange dual of metalic body morphing near the end of the film.

A lot of the movie is stop motion animation mixed with live action actors. It is comparable to Eraserhead in that way but i liked this a lot more than eraserhead. While Eraserhead is really slow and monotunus, Iron man moves at a breakneck pace to an awesome industrial music soundtrack. The industrial music is perfect for this film because the film is based on dirty grimy and rusty industrial metal garbage and even the environments are all streamlined industrial parks and monotonous suburbs.

The thing i like about this movie is although it is "artsy" it's the kind of art that's fun to look at. You don't have to be some rich art fag pretending to like weird s*** to prove that your some kind of an intellectual to like it. I was really entertained by this movie! Unlike the other reviewer I don't think this movie is purposely all f***ed up for the sake of being artistic. I think the director wanted to make a visual statement about the relationship technology has with our physical lives. More interested in telling a cool sci fi story with fantastic visuals than with coherent dialogue that makes you ponder the universe. I also didn't get the feeling that this movie took itself too seriously. It's actually quite funny at times and that's why i had fun watching it.

If you don't like movies that give you no hope in understanding every aspect of the plot don't watch this, but if you like WEIRD sci fi stuff that's unlike anything you've seen before than watch this!

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Tetsuo (1989)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
This movie is so damn good!!! movie_music_fiend90
After watching this... black_xbox_8
Worst Movie Ever? ierkkila44
I wrote my 8th grade researchpaper on Shinya Tsukamoto and Takashi Miike cltravag
BEGOTTEN VS TETSUO VS ERASERHEAD psy_spectre
I jerk off to this! extructo_man
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