Tetsuo: The Iron Man

Saw Tetsuo: The Iron Man, a low-budget, Japanese art/horror film about a man who hits a "metal fetishist" with his car. For the metal fetishist, this is bitter-sweet. On the one hand, he's upset because he's been injured, but on the other, how appropriate and perfect, that his life should end because of a giant, perfect engine bearing down on him. The title sequence is shown after this, with do-wop 50s music playing over close-ups of the car's grill and headlights.

The film continues with the haunted protagonist slowly being consumed by bits of scrap metal. The feel of the film is sinister and playful. Industrial landscapes and sounds evoke early David Lynch. The abundant body horror reminds me of a messier Cronenberg. In addition to these elements, the use of found props and stop-motion reminds me of Michel Gondry. A heady mixture!

As far as metaphorical meaning is concerned, the film could have something to say about industry vs nature (both in an environmental and human angst sort of sense) but mostly the film is full of aggressive montage, special effects, and wild sex scenes. The sex is frankly exploitative, btw. There are some gay subtexts, but only to the end of making the viewer uncomfortable.

It's a relatively short film, clocking in at 70 minutes or so. It hit hard and fast, opening with some truly uncomfortable scenes and progressing into a full-scale, globally apocalyptic climax. The subject matter feels fairly sinister but to my Western eyes, it seems too goofy to be threatening. It's less Saw and more Day of the Dead. At one point, a monster emerges from a woman's torso, holding a bouquet of flowers. How bizarre.

Wolf Children

Saw Wolf Children, a cute little anime about a woman who falls in love with a werewolf man and gives birth to two little werewolf children. The father then vanishes, leaving this poor woman to raise two children who turn into dogs half of the time. She lives in the countryside however, so they're able to keep their secret for a while. The children however are caught between two worlds themselves. They are partly wild animals but they are also partly humans. They struggle to make both halves cohere.

The film is really nostalgic and cute. The soundtrack is full of piano and women's voices. The visuals are packed with studio Ghibli-style super-naturally beautiful nature, as though the whole world had been polished and painted. Nature and weather patterns feature heavily in the story, often causing a major plot movement. Wolves are used to symbolize a more pure connection to nature that the children have which the rural humans, with their plastic ponchos and rubber boots, are lacking. Tellingly, we are informed that there are no more wolves in Japan. (Oh, how we have lost our way!)

True to the nature of melodramatic Asian cinema, there are several sustained attacks on your heart strings. Late in the film, I began to rebel against the overwhelming cutesy-ness of it all, but I think by that point you're supposed to have already cried and to be willing to let the film get away with murder.

So this film is a winner. It's mostly a giant scoop of sugar with enough sad bits in so that you can feel comfortable happy-crying later. The visuals are amazing, the atmosphere of the film is great, and the characters are enough of a cypher that you can project onto them. Not a film with a lot to say, but a nice film and one I'll probably show other people some day.

The Red Desert

Saw The Red Desert, a film by Antonioni. It follows a pretty woman who is having some kind of breakdown. Her husband owns a factory of some kind and she spends much time wandering in the gravel nearby it, gazing into septic pools, filled with solvents and waste. She is overcome and anxious about everything. The nature of her problems aren't fully explained and are left ambiguous with teasing hints to guide us. She seems alienated, unsure what people want from her or who she is. This ties in neatly with the industrial landscapes and plastic, blocky, modern decor of her house. Much ink has been spent on alienation in an industrial world and the film even opens with a worker's strike. Is the disorder of the factory mirrored in this woman's mind?

Then again she spends a lot of time in the ruins of nature. The only time we see green trees, they are interrupted by a ship passing through them. The canal carrying the ship is recessed, making the ship look like it's eerily passing through the forest itself. We know she used to hang out in a beautiful, isolated beach. Is she mother earth, upset by her own destruction?

There's many recurring themes. Boats show up many times, as does this radio broadcast from Saturn: It suggests isolation from other people, from nature, from society in general, perhaps even from herself. She is the hook to draw us into the world's problems.

The film itself is a bit slow and self-indulgent. It's interesting to watch this woman freak out over and over and it's interesting to see modern (circa '64), industrial Italy. I'm more used to the urban Italy of Fellini or Pasolini. I was frustrated by my inability to make the film cohere however. There's too many threads for me to tie them all together. I think this was meant to be a bit vague, but not as vague as I'm feeling about it. I feel there's a message where there might just be a meditation. Anyway an interesting film, full of threads to pull on. A great conversation starter.

Edit: oh yeah and some creepy 60s sex. She doesn't really resist, but she's in the middle of a full-blown freak-out, so enthusiastic consent, this is not. It's not as rapey as some contemporary films (looking at you, Goldfinger) but it hasn't aged well.