The undisputed king of Japanese cyberpunk cinema. A real renaissance man who wrote, shot, edited, directed and even acted in many of his own films. If you like your films raw and undiluted, Tsukamoto's oeuvre is a real treasure trove.
Movies
Tsukamoto's Tetsuo is an almost perfect cyberpunk endeavor, sporting lush black and white visuals and a superb industrial soundtrack, while providing a nerve-wrecking and overwhelming experience.
This is a typical Japanese drama infused and enriched with plenty of Tsukamoto goodness. The result is haunting, morbid, poetic and beautiful all at once.
A vintage Tsukamoto, with extrovert visuals, a superb soundtrack, and a strong focus on the human body, but underneath there's a layer of humanity that wasn't really present before.
Haze may be a little less refined and accomplished than some of his more famed films, but Tsukamoto did manage to regain that guerrilla charm that made his first films so irresistible.
Gemini is a stylish, dark, and twisted mix of Rampo and Tsukamoto elements, complementing each other perfectly. It's a film that still stands proud and hasn't lost any of its appeal.
An exceptional audiovisual experience, a worthwhile drama, and a lesson in how to properly film a boxing match. It's a pretty short film that packs quite a punch.
It bears the same charm and defects as the first Tetsuo and some very minor extra glitches, but the core is still there. An assault to the senses in pretty much every way possible.
Kotoko is another work of love.
Starts off a little restrained, especially for a Tsukamoto film, but once it gets going it becomes an unstoppable force. Well acted, beautifully scored and largely defined by Tsukamoto's trademark camera work, Killing is a film that may be short and light on plot, but leaves a big impression nonetheless. Great stuff.
This is not a very happy film, nor is it very subtle.
Nightmare Detective 2 might be his most commercial work to date, there is still plenty here to scare away the regular movie fan.
The second time around I was little let down by the acting performances of the secondary cast. For a film that puts more focus on drama than usually the case, that's somewhat of a problem.
It's still a great film though. Even a slightly watered down Tsukamoto film is way better than most of the J-Horror films released in the past 15 years.
Decent anthology, sadly without stand-out entries. Kaidan stories aren't very scary or gory, so don't expect any modern horror action. Tsukamoto and Koreeda deliver the best entries, Lee's one is decent, the only subpar short is coming from Ochiai. Ironically, the only true horror director present.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
