Whatever else it might be - horror, sci-fi, social commentary - Tetsuo is also one of the purest distillations of The Nightmare yet carved on celluloid. Like all nightmares, the plot only really comes together after the fact, when a man's sat smoking and pondering and flicking through this week's NME, fragments of those heinous, grotesquely beautiful images rise and dissipate hind the eyes. A car-crash, something to do with a TV screen, some sexing filths in a forest, buggered with a metal dildo, weirdly organic iron tentacles, stop-motion foam, decay, grinding monstrosities.
And for sure, it ain't for everyone, just take a glance at this well-versed PHD sat quivering in the corner, biting fingers to the knuckles, muttering on about "Fuck Redux, I'll never be the same, never, that motion-flick about Tetsuo done warped me out my bones."
I can see where he's coming from, but still, I can't do a damn thing but fling a stereo at him, order him out my house, demand to know what kind of sick game he's playing here.
I've heard it over and over, see, folks going on about how "disturbing" Tetsuo is, how it's the kinda thing that burns itself into the furthest caverns of the head-space, bounding out when a man least expects it, horrible metallic gnashing wolverines jumping left and right on the nights when the air reeks a terror.
I just can't get behind that kinda talk.
Of course it's disturbing, but it's not disturbing in the way that, say, Mermaid In A Manhole is disturbing, it's not disturbing in the way Saló or Cannibal Holocaust or Irreversible is disturbing. It's so alive with frantic, kinetic invention that no matter how grotesque it gets, a fella can feel nothing but all-consuming giddy delirium throughout. It bruises the mind in the best possible way, it's something you don't want to forget, as opposed to something you pay a therapist 60 quid a pop for to clear out the brains.
It's glorious, so glorious, in fact, that it gets off with the kinda shit lesser film-folks been hung and quartered for before now. All that non-linear, handheld, aggressively stylized visual show-offery could so easily have led to the most pretentious, unwatchable gut-mess The Culture has ever spawned.
Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Very cool, Duke!
I am looking forward to viewing my copy, which will be my first introduction to Tetsuo.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thanks Chris! look forward to your thoughts!
3 - Eric Berlin
Brilliantly mad and just plain brilliant offerings as always, Duke!
Has the phrase... "steam rising out his arsehole" ever yet been stated (in English or any language, known or forgotten) in the history of time?
Surely not!
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thank you Eric! much appreciated!
with regards the bumhole talk, probably there's a couple Queen lyrics that talk of such phenomena. who knows?
5 - Drella
Damn, Mr.The Duke,
You always know the right thing to say. First there was that stunning piece on Mr. Doherty, and now I stumble across this. During my high school years I must have watched this hundreds of times.
Keep keepin' on, I like what you have to say.
Drella.
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
well thank you drella! mentioning Mr Doherty, Fuck Forever finally arrived today. sweet moses, tis all the glorious in the world for to hear it "proper".
7 - Temple Stark
Video Editor Eric Berlin picked this for an Editors' Pick of the Week. Go find out why HERE.
Thank you.
8 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
wonderful! aw, an a man was all sortsa down, too. a fine pick-up, that is.