Tetsuo - The Iron Man
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
As well as music being used to link scenes together, there is the use of music to suggest moods. There is often dynamic or menacing music, such as in the final scene of the film, and there is also more gentle music used in other scenes. The best example of this is where Girlfriend’s dead body has been placed in the bath surrounded by flowers, possibly as a reference to Ophelia in Hamlet - "..in the glassy stream, therewith fantastic garlands did she make": Shakespeare. In this scene Salaryman gives her what could be seen as a kiss, using a steel pipe coming from his mouth. The combination of the flowers, and the use of slow, gentle music makes this scene the softest in the whole of the film, and one of the most sensual.
Imagery is also used to suggest mood and character, and although there are images and styles of movement that are dominant within the film, there are changes in these depending on the mood. Most of the mise-en-scene in the film is industrial, involving either metal or concrete, whereas Girlfriend is shown with flowers, and in her underwear, which gives a feeling of vulnerability. The images shown of the two main characters, Salaryman and Fetishist, are shown to evolve. Early on in the film, when Salaryman is waiting for Girlfriend to answer the phone, his home setting appears idyllic, and he in turn appears respectable. In the background, there are a couple of cats wandering round and feeding, there is a fan blowing, and coffee being made. Salaryman himself is shown as calm - he is casually looking at a newspaper, and is shown in an almost clichéd manner as being a typical respectable Japanese office worker. This is suggested by his glasses and his neatly slicked back hair. The combination of his average looking appearance, and his home comforts give the impression that he is the ideal of a typical everyday person. In contrast, Fetishist is shown sitting in a mess of metal and wires, and in a pool of a liquid that could be oil. His own appearance is tousled, and he is wearing shorts and a T-shirt with a futuristic looking “X” design. His image, coupled with his early actions (cutting his own leg, and inserting an iron bar into it) gives a double edged impression. On the one hand, he is definitely not respectable, but then again, his image is more likely to appeal to a younger viewer than Salaryman is, especially to someone who is a non-conformist. This is particularly significant, as the audience that this film is most likely to appeal to is the 18-30 age group. In Japan, where this film was made, this age group is the focus of huge cultural changes. This age group, which is seen a being mostly concerned with computer games and loud music, is described by the Japanese media as “shinjinrui” which means “new type of human being”. Although both of the main characters appear to be the same age, it could be suggested that Salaryman is representing the epitome of the former generation, whereas Fetishist is the shinjinrui. Whether or not this is true, there is the strong impression made that Salaryman is “normal” and Fetishist is not.
This is reversed by the middle of the film. When Fetishist appears at Salaryman’s house, although wearing make-up similar to that used in “The Crow” and having metal growing out of parts of his head, at this point, he is much more human looking than Salaryman, and is even temporarily, wearing a suit. He is shown at this stage to be more in control of his mutation than Salaryman, and is even able to control anything made out of metal by use of telekinesis. Salaryman on the other hand, is shown to become increasingly less human, and less in control. As he loses more and more of his humanity, he no longer has any need of clothes, his voice starts to sound alien and robotic, and at one stage, he even has no face. He also symbolically loses aspects of his ordinary life: first his Girlfriend dies (twice); then his home and his cat are mutilated. The difference in power, and keeping of identity between Salaryman and Fetishist, is most apparent during a scene where they both travel at extremely high velocity through Tokyo. Salaryman still has his face covered, and Fetishist seems to be in control of which direction Salaryman goes. This is suggested by shots showing Fetishist opening and closing his hands, followed by shots of Salaryman hurtling backwards, and hitting walls.
Although at first Fetishist seems to be in control, after the flashback of him being hit repeatedly on the head with an iron bar by the tramp, he seems to lose some of this control. First he slides wildly headfirst along the floor on his back, and then hits his head with a loud “Bong”. Straight after this, he mutates more. His right eye is now covered, giving a feeling of some degree of disability. His hand comes off, while his arm turns into a flame thrower. Also his voice becomes weak and croaky. At this point however, he is still dominant over Salaryman, who although once again has a face, now has no body.
The last two scenes are very important when it comes to trying to make an understanding of the film, and so there are very bold impressions made using both mise-en-scene and sound to try to explain what is happening. As mentioned before, the use of the womb and the saxophone music, suggest that the two characters have made some type of amalgamation, and the womblike imagery of the scene suggests that the two characters are being reborn to become something else. The following scene showing the characters having turned into some part tank, part motorbike, part living thing shows Salaryman as now being the dominant of the two. There is more of his face showing than previously, and he is at the top, with most of his metal body being visible. Also his voice has become human again, although it is more coarse than at the beginning. Fetishist, despite remaining mostly human for most of the film, is now shown as only half of a face, with some type of liquid coming from his mouth. The use of make-up makes Salaryman appear a little like Fetishist earlier in the film. This helps to suggest that Salaryman has become like Fetishist, and he seems to have adopted Fetishist’s dream of a “New world”. On first viewing, when Fetishist says, “Ah, I feel great!”, this seems merely ironic, as he actually looks completely terrible. However, when seen in respect to what follows, it could be said that although he is in such a state, he genuinely does feel good in the knowledge of what is to come. The use of the booming rocket at the back of the tank/motorbike/living thing, the gun blast, and the previous conversation, all go together to suggest that they about to go off and destroy the world. Tsukamoto himself has said “It’s strange, part of me loves a city like Tokyo, but part of me would quite happily destroy it.”
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