Shinya Tsukamoto brings "Tetsuo the Bulletman" to San Diego Comic-Con

by Chris MaGee

Last week the sudden and very welcome news that Shinya Tsukamoto would be attending San Diego's Comic-Con to discuss and present new footage from his highly-anticipated third installment in his "Tetsuo" series had Japanese and genre film fans around the world fidgeting in their seats. What would this new "Tetsuo" look like? What would the plot be? What was the official title, seeing that it had only been referred to as "The Tetsup Project"? Everyone immediately had an overweening desire for answers. Well, Tsukamoto's panel discussion took place last Thursday and over the weekend Toronto's own Twitch Film and Todd Brown steeped up in a big way bringing all those details to anxious Tsukamoto fans. Here's a breakdown:

The title of this third "Tetsuo" film is "Tetsuo the Bulletman", which was kind of an open secret seeing that "The Bulletman" was the title used way back in January of 2008 when Tsukamoto was holding open calls for Caucasian actors to star in his next film. I think it fit nicely into the two other films in the series, "The Ironman" and "Body Hammer".

The plot of "Tetsuo the Bulletman" revolves around an American Business man named Anthony (Eric Bossick) who lives and works in Tokyo. When his 3-year-old son is killed Anthony and his wife Yuriko are devastated, but not as devastated as when the trail of the killer leads to Anthony's own father, Ride. It turns out that Ride works for the U.S. military as an anatomist and that he has been conducting experiments in Tokyo since the American Occupation. Consumed with rage over his son's murder Anthony begins to transform into a machine... but is this connected to his father's research as well?

In terms of what Tsukamoto had to say about this new incarnation of Tetsuo I found this statement very interesting: "In Tetsuo the Bullet Man my third Tetsuo film, the progatonist’s body starts to turn metallic as well, but this time he turns into a deadly weapon, and fights against the fear of killing people against his own will. In that context, war is another important subject for me this time." Could this be the first twinges of a politicized Tetsuo? A Tetsuo for the post-W. Bush, post-911 era?

The last question that Tsukamoto fans were dying to have answered was what does this new Tetsuo look like. For that answer you should head to the source and visit Twitch where they have posted full video coverage of the panel discussion and presentation of scenes from "Tetsuo the Bulletman".

Thanks to Cinema Today for the above pic.