underground japanese cinema ushered in a unique brand of cyberpunk films that were very prominent during the 80's and 90's. this week's movie night theme focuses around a select few of these energetic films, with a sound and look that's hard to miss.
TETSUO: The Iron Man
A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uROMTzJsfOI#)
Electric Dragon 80.000 V
A young boy gets jolted with electricity as he's climbing a tall cable pylon. As he gets older, he experiences intense fits of violence in which bolts of electricity burt from his fists. Elsewhere in Tokyo, there is an electronics wizard who also happens to be a vigilante with a taste for electric weapons. When the pair catch each other's attention, the result is a battle that will light up the city.
Electric Dragon 80000V English Subbed Trailer! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nHfldl5FzQ#)
Bullet Ballet
A man sees his life changed for ever when his fiancee shoots herself in a world where guns are nearly impossible and illegal to obtain. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in a violent group of young vicious punks. They first beat him severely and then he seeks revenge with his fist, then with a gun.
Bullet Ballet (trailer) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oANXAtSmNXM#)
Burst City
Rival biker gangs in a dystopian future attempt to rebel against the construction of a massive power plant in "their" part of Tokyo.
Burst City Subtitled Trailer! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS4p4ihS0QE#)