2 out of 5

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Boy, what an experimental mess. Tetsuo has an important place in film history for the genre it introduced (the machine hybrid thing thats been coming back moreso in the past few years) as well as its stylistic aggressiveness: especially in 89 the insanity with which this movie proceeds is dizzying. But it also gets boring even during the 67 minutes, just like listening to grindcore music or something: its blistering for a few minutes, and then its just noise. Loosely connected images are strung together by super fuzzy, close-up shaky camera shots of devastated sets strewn with metal and garbage. The set and character design is super fascinating, but this is just dressing for the plot – which I am curious if I could have followed without knowing it ahead of time or by reading the description… So, perhaps, there is your right mindset for this movie: If you had never heard of it before, and it was 1990 or 91, and then you stumbled across it at a video rental store and took it home, it would have a strong effect. Unfortunately, knowing its spot in history and watching it today, it has not aged well. Old surreal classics still have strength in their imagery. The concept of Tetsuo is apparent from the first 15 or so minutes. It then spends another hour just being insane. Not a horrible experience, just not really a movie.