Opening and Closing show - VisitBrussels

TETSUO : THE BULLET MAN (Shinya Tsukamoto/Japan)A Shinya Tsukamoto filmScreenplay: Shinya Tsukamoto & Hisakatsu KurokiCast: Eric Bossick, Akiko Monou, Yuko Nakamura, Stephen Sarrazin, Tiger Charlie Gerhardt, Prakhar Jain, Shinya Tsukamoto, MichaelDuncan, Alan Koji, Sou Fujita, Markus Wambsganss, Hajime Izuki, Dwayne Lawler, Aldo La Riviere, Yutaka Mishima, GettoRunning time: 71 min.Office worker Anthony, son of an American father and a Japanese mother, lives inTokyo with his wife Yuriko and their little son Tom. Since Anthony’s mother died ofcancer, his scientist father has been overly fearful for their health and rigidly subjectsAnthony and Tom to monthly physicals. Walking home, Tom is killed in a hit and runbefore Anthony’s eyes. Losing their boy pushes Yuriko over the edge and triggersviolent emotions in Anthony, whose body begins to transform. Little by little, his cellsturn to iron. When the driver who killed Tom reappears and Anthony learns the truthabout his father’s past experiments on human guinea pigs and about his mother’sdeath, Anthony mutates into a mass of metal – a human weapon fuelled by anuncontrollable rage.The BIFFF was the first festival in the world to screen Tetsuo (1989); which has sincebecome the cult gem we all know. So it would have been awkward to end this twentyyearadventure without showing the last episode of Tsukamoto’s trilogy. And our chap hasn’t lost an ounce ofhis talent: edgy editing, mystical inserts, sexualisation of the mechanical – reminiscent in some ways ofCronenberg’s Crash (or is it the opposite?) –, industrial themes for the score (thanks to Chu Ishikawa) andTrent “Nine Inch Nails” Reznor for the soundtrack.45