Tetsuo - The Iron Man
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
Essay discussing Visual and Aural effects, written by Christina Monk.
The film "Tetsuo" by Shinya Tsukamoto, has some very striking characteristics within its visual imagery and its soundtrack. Although much of this supports the narrative, the bizarre imagery and pace of movement, including some editing which can have a confusing effect, could also be seen as distracting the viewer away from the storyline. I will be describing the imagery used in the film, and what effect it has. As there are many possible interpretations of what the film could be about, it is difficult to know for sure why everything that is used in the film is there, and where necessary, I will describe how aspects of the film could fit some of the different possible interpretations. When quoting dialogue in the film, I will be using the words supplied in the English subtitles, but it is important to note that the screenplay was originally written in Japanese. Where I think there is a significant change in either effect, or meaning through the translation, for example where the effects caused by repetion are loss, or the effect of a particular sound is lost, I will supply both the translation and the original sound of the words.
Throughout the film, Tsukamoto makes heavy use of motifs, both visual and aural. There are brief flashbacks of the car from the crash scene repeated, which are used to show both Salaryman’s realisation of his guilt, and Fetishist’s motivation for revenge. Also for similar reasons, and in the same way, there is a short scene that is repeated showing Salaryman and Girlfriend making love, as seen through the eyes of Fetishist. These scenes, as well as suggesting the stream of consciousness of the two main characters, also have the result of affecting the pace of the film. Often during moments of high drama, there are shots of the fetishist, or sometimes a strange looking girl, laughing maniacally. When these shots are used at times of extreme violence or emotion, they help to increase the viewer’s sense of hysteria, and have a disturbing effect. In the scene where Salaryman accidentally drills a hole in his girlfriend, there is a rapid cutting between the scene of her with blood spurting on the wall behind, and shots of Fetishist laughing maniacally. The sound, rather than overlapping, is cut sharply so that when the image changes, the sound coincides. It would have been possible, and maybe even technically easier, to have the sound of the drill running continuously through this sequence, but it would have been less jarring to the viewer. This makes the film more disturbing to watch, and could reflect what is happening to the main character, but also helps to distinguish the film.
There are also sequences, showing steelworks and masses of concrete and metal that are inserted between scenes, that have the opposite effect. Unlike the more hysterical shots mentioned earlier, these are edited at a slower pace and often using panning or tracking movement. Although these shots are showing what could be considered as being eyesores, these shots do give a calming feeling to the viewer due to their contrast in pace with most of the rest of the film. It is necessary to occasionally have some relaxing of the pace in order for the rest of the film to have full impact on the audience. These sequences, due to the lingering effect that is used by the tracking shots, and slow succession from one view of steelworks to another, also helps to give the viewer the suggestion that time is passing. The use of steel also makes suggestions of the meaning of the film, as will be discussed later.
As well as setting the pace and punctuation, another use of repetition within the film is that it can link scenes or characters to one another. There are two scenes in particular that have elements that are taken from one to another: the scene where Salaryman is attacked by Girl With Glasses in a garage, and the scene where Fetishist visits Salaryman. In those scenes, both Fetishist and Girl With Glasses use similar body movements, running their chins over their forearms, and then leaning over Salaryman with their faces very close to his. The voice of Fetishist saying "Sa koi"(“Come on!”) is dubbed into Girl With Glasses’ mouth. The music sound track also links these scenes by using a distinctive heavy bass drum pattern. These repeating factors make a very definite link between Fetishist and Girl With Glasses, however as the film is likely to be interpreted in numerous ways, and it is hard to know what, if any, is the implicit meaning, it is almost impossible to know exactly why this has been done. Depending on the viewer’s interpretation of the film in general, then this can change. One suggestion could be that the film is about disease, and when Girl With Glasses touches the lump of flesh and metal at the train station, then like catching a contagious disease, she takes on characteristics - or in other words, symptoms of the fetishist. Then again, it could be suggested that the scene featuring Girl With Glasses is like a nightmare sequence that is prophesying what is going to happen later with the fetishist.
As well as “Come on!”, there are other phrases that are repeated often throughout the film. The phrase “Doshita no?” (what has happened) is used many times by Girlfriend, although it is given several different meanings in the translation so some of the effect caused by repetition is lost. Also the words “Don’t ever leave me” are repeated both by Salaryman and Girlfriend to each other. This limited vocabulary adds to the fact that there is little dialogue used within the film. At the same time, it can stress the few words that are said, such as Girlfriend saying that nothing much scares her. Having this stressed helps to highlight the irony when she starts screaming as soon as she sees him. The use of “Don’t ever leave me” also has an ironic feel to it, as it goes from Girlfriend saying it, to Salaryman saying it when it looks like she might have a good reason to leave him.
There is another example where the soundtrack makes links between scenes, which is the saxophone playing after the car crash, and during the womb scene. Using the music in this way allows the viewer to see a link between these two scenes, that may not have been made otherwise. The result of this link is that there is the implication given that car crash in some way links the two main characters together, making the end result inevitable. It is important that the viewer makes this connection in order to both understand the storyline, and in making an interpretation of what the film could be about.
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