Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

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Horrorphile - August 2008

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (super-remix-review)

August 7th 2008 01:10

Visionary lunatic Shinya Tsukamoto who made Tetsuo: Iron Man (1989) in black and white 16mm comes charging back full-force, both barrels blazing, with a re-fit/re-boot re-envisioning entitled Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992). It’s not so much a sequel as more of the same cyber-surrealist nightmare, but this time in muted, yet vivid colour, 35mm, and with more elaborate special effects.

I was lucky to have seen this movie on the big screen back around the time it was first released, late at night during a film festival in Wellington, New Zealand. When the title credit hammered across the screen in emblazoned huge letters I knew I was in for something special. Tetsuo: Iron Man had screened earlier in the festival, and that had already screwed (and bolted) with my mind. Now I was about to be further cyber-raped by Tsukamoto’s intensely bizarre audio-visual assualt on the senses.

The nuclear family relaxing at home

Watching Body Hammer again for the first time in several years it has lost none of its potency. It does seem more absurd and perhaps a little silly at times, but it’s so brazenly original, perversely atmospheric and disturbingly moody one can’t help but be impressed by the director’s maverick take on the urban world surrounding him. Body Hammer is a bold and brilliant statement, but not for the squeamish or those who prefer their narrative to be handed to them on a plot-straight plate.

Taniguchi (Tomorowo Taguchi) as uber-urbanite

Taniguchi Tanoo (Tomorowo Taguchi, reprising roughly the same role as he did in Iron Man) is a mild-mannered man with wife Kana (Nobu Kanaoka, woman in glasses from Iron Man), and young son Minori (Keinosuke Tomioka). But there normal life is shattered when Minori is kidnapped by menacing, darkly-clad skinheads. Taniguchi is terrorized by the men, but Minori is left unhurt.

Nobu Kanoaka as Kana

Later Minori is kidnapped again from the family home, but this time the consequences are tragic. Taniguchi vows revenge, whilst his wife is inconsolable. But fate twists the metal pipe and Taniguchi himself is kidnapped by the same mysterious men in black. He is drugged and taken underground into a covert industrial realm. Taniguchi is bolted to a customized chair and a special helmut with metal goggles is attached to his head. A mad scientist supervises experimental procedures on poor Taniguchi resulting in severe and outlandish body mutation.

Shinya Tsukamoto as Yatsu

Under the control of criminal mastermind Yatsu (director Tsukamoto), aided by his right-hand iron fist (Hideaki Tezuka) and dozens of similarly pumped-up skinheads, Taniguchi transforms into a machine of wrath, but it is revealed later during a disturbing flashback to his youth - where he witnessed the tragedy of a sexually dysfunctional relationship between his mother and father - that Taniguchi’s cyborg extremus atrox potential has only been sparked, not created by the machinations of Yatsu and his scientist consultant.

Metal muscle underground

If Iron Man was a fetish exploration of sexual rage, then Body Hammer is an industrial mutation of desire and love. Fear and anger transmogrify into a metal manifestation of inner torment. The harsh reality of technology is rendered almost abstract, while man and woman strive for tranquility amidst thrashing, seething subterranean chaos. Rage is the force that creates a human killing machine; it is primal, yet it can be controlled – channeled even. But where is the origin of the rage?

Nightmare reality

The effects of psychological trauma in Taniguchi’s formative years (the flashback sequence), which combine the adult realm of sexual intimacy meshed with the violence of machines controlled by humans (guns). The title may be called Body Hammer, but a more precise title could be Body Cannon, which brings me to the obvious comparisons to another maverick director who is primarily concerned with body-horror; David Cronenberg. His masterpiece Videodrome could be viewed as a companion piece to Body Hammer.

Mindbodymetalfleshfusion

I am machine, hear me roar

If you can somehow conjure the amalgam of visceralist David Cronenberg, surrealist David Lynch and animator Jans Svankmajer colluding at a wrecker’s yard, where they indulge in a sado-masochistic homoerotic threesome, giving birth to a bastard love-child of destruction. That will give you an idea of the metamorphosis that is Tetsuo II: Body Hammer.

With it’s lush, yet cold metallic blues and deep molten orange palette, the furious camerawork and astounding stop-motion cyber-wild animation, topped by the date-stamp 80s piston-flavoured soundtrack, Body Hammer is a tour-de-force of live action Manga.

Can love conquer rage?

Here's a trailer (with French subs):

Here's another montage extract:

Tetsuo DVD courtesy of Siren Visual, many thanks!

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

3 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Cibbuano

August 7th 2008 02:32

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

bah, I still haven't seen this or the original, despite all your recommendations!

Comment by Damo

August 7th 2008 02:44

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Now that looks seriously weird

Comment by JohnDoe

August 7th 2008 10:58

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,

A staggering film that makes it mark as an experience.

Great review.

[ Previous - Palabras Encadenadas (Killing Words) ]

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