| Director: | Shinya Tsukamoto |
| Music: | Chu Ishikawa |
| Distributor: | Asmik Ace Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 79 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | English |
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man is a 2009 Japanese cyberpunk body horror thriller film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto.[1] The film is a standalone sequel to (1989) and (1992), and follows a man who transforms into a rageful metallic being after his son is killed in a car crash. It stars Eric Bossick, Akiko Monō, Yuko Nakamura, Stephen Sarrazin, and Tsukamoto. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2009, and released in Japan on 22 May 2010, by Asmik Ace Entertainment.
Anthony is a man with an American father and a deceased Japanese mother living and working in Tokyo. One day, his son is killed in a car accident and shortly afterward, Anthony begins to transform into metal. He is shot dead by a hitman accompanied by a mysterious individual who taunts Anthony's dead body. The mysterious man, named Yatsu, is then confronted by a revived and enraged Anthony, and it is revealed that the car accident was in fact Yatsu's deliberate act of murder. Anthony attempts to kill Yatsu using bullets fired from his torso, but fails as Yatsu is able to narrowly escape. Yatsu hacks Anthony's computer to display a cryptic series of scientific documents and tells Anthony to go to his father's house, where he finds a secret room filled with files detailing a mysterious Tetsuo Project. He also learns that his father met his mother while they both researched the project. Anthony's wife Yuriko arrives but before she sees her transformed husband, a team of heavily-armed mercenaries from a private military company hired to cover up the existence of the Tetsuo Project arrive and she is taken hostage. Anthony's transformation finishes its hold and he defeats the PMC team with bullets fired from his body, but refrains from killing them. The severely injured team is extracted, but then killed by Yatsu, this film's version of "The Metal Fetishist".[1] [2]
Now believing that he has been possessed by a demon, Anthony attempts to kill himself using a gun growing from his hand but this fails. Anthony and Yuriko then meet up with Anthony's gravely wounded father who explains everything: Anthony's mother was disgusted with the militaristic outcome of the Tetsuo Project, having joined it as a way to help give crippled and sick people new bodies. When Anthony's mother realized that she would soon die from cancer, she insisted that her husband recreate her as a Tetsuo android so that he may still have a child with his recreated wife. That child became Anthony, which means that Anthony and his late son were always part Tetsuo. It is also revealed that anger is the catalyst that causes Anthony to transform into metal, and that Yatsu murdered Anthony's son and wounded his father in order to provoke this transformation. Yatsu, in this version without metal powers, has come to the conclusion that the only way he would prefer to die is by a bullet from Anthony's body as committing murder would push Anthony to consume and destroy the world in Yatsu's stead. Anthony's father bleeds out due to his injuries. Yatsu kidnaps Yuriko and threatens to detonate a bomb he has fashioned into her necklace if Anthony does not shoot him. During an ensuing chase, Anthony's rage becomes out of control and he transforms into a gigantic metal beast with a cannon in its center. Yatsu provokes and threatens Anthony to shoot him. Receiving a vision of the city exploding in a giant ball of light if he does kill Yatsu, Anthony denies this wish and instead consumes Yatsu whole into his metal body, then returns to his human form.
Five years later, Anthony and Yuriko have had a new child and have returned to a normal, contented life. As he stands before a mirror, Anthony hears Yatsu's final words: "[You don't want me inside you.] You don't know what I'll do". However, when a group of young thugs attempt to intimidate Anthony while walking down the street, rather than allow his anger to overtake him, he walks calmly and confidently past them.
Following the release of the Japanese film (1992), which saw international attention, director Shinya Tsukamoto was approached by an American produced to do a third Tetsuo film set in the United States, but the initial project fell apart due to issues with budget, communication, and creative differences with producers.[5] Quentin Tarantino was initially attached as producer, but Tsukamoto's "process was too slow" that Tarantino dropped from the project.[5] [6]
Tsukamoto also served as a cast member, writer with Hisakatsu Kuroki, editor with Yuji Ambe, and director of photography alongside cinematographers Takayuki Shida and Satoshi Hayashi.[4] Shinichi Kawahara and Masayuki Taneshima served as producers.[4] The film is a presentation of Tetsuo The Bullet Man Group and produced by Kaijyu Theater and Asmik Ace Entertainment.[4] [7]
Chu Ishikawa composed the music for the film.[4] The closing credits feature an original track by Trent Reznor of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails titled "Theme for Tetsuo: The Bullet Man".[8] Tsukamoto has stated that the collaboration with Reznor marked the fulfillment of a long-held ambition to work with the group.[9] Tsukamoto had previously collaborated with Reznor on a Tetsuo-esque commercial for MTV Japan.[10]
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man premiered on 5 September 2009 as part of the Venice International Film Festival, although Tsukamoto was unsatisfied with the cut and later re-edited the film.[11] [12] The new cut premiered in the United States on 25 April 2010 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.[13] In July 2010, IFC Midnight purchased the North American distribution rights and Middle Eastern digital rights from sales agent Coproduction Office.[12]
Kotobukiya released the official Bullet Man Real Figure at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.[14]
The film received "largely negative reviews and reactions" following its premiere at Venice. Leslie Felperin of Variety praised the film's "retro" special effects, frantic editing, and loud sound and music, but criticized the familiar plot.[4] Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter took issue with the dialogue and acting, but similarly favored the sound and editing.[15]
Film School Rejects' Adam Charles was unpleasant with the "harsh" visuals and sounds, and criticized the use of English dialogue "when eighty percent of the cast doesn’t appear to speak it significantly well, nor a director that can tell that they can’t."[16] Tom Mes of Midnight Eye called the film "a true Tetsuo film as well as a true Tsukamoto film", and defended the use of English as a stylistic choice, but found flaws in the film's execution of the transformation and the lack of eroticism found in the preceding entries.[17]