Film: Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) – CERT 18 – Part of Grimmfest

Director / Producer / Writer / Cinematographer / Editor: Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Cinematographer: Kei Fujiwara Cast: Tomorô Taguchi, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka

A staid salaryman’s head-on collision with a sadomasochistic metal fetishist triggers a terrifying and life-altering transformation…

Thirty two years after its release, Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s groundbreaking, boundary-pushing, polymorphously perverse tech/body horror has lost none of its visceral, punishing power. A startling, surreal tale of physical mutation and psychosexual transformation, shot in quicksilver black & white, and powered by a pulsing, pounding heavy-industrial score, it’s a sensual sensory overload, a lunatic live-action manga, a savage and subversive satire of salaryman culture, and a dark love story for the machine age, manic and magnificently nihilistic, the brute bastard child of Transgressive 80s Underground Cinema and S&M subculture, and – rather disturbingly – a deeply personal project for the multitalented Tsukamoto, who not only writes, directs, produces, shoots and edits, but also stars as the nameless Metal Fetishist.

Screening as part of Japan 2020: Over 100 years of Japanese Cinema, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. bfijapan.co.uk