"This is him: tough and generous madman Shinya Tsukamoto… I will never be able to beat this guy."
—Takashi Miike
Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto
Two years after the highly successful and critically acclaimed book Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike, author Tom Mes sheds his light on one of the most important and influential filmmakers to emerge from Japan in the past twenty years: Shinya Tsukamoto.
Unleashed with the now legendary black and white cyberpunk masterpiece Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Shinya Tsukamoto is truly one of Japan's leading filmmakers. With visual assaults like Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer, Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet he has gained a worldwide following and paved the way for the international breakthrough of Japanese cinema. Despite his fame Tsukamoto remains fiercely independent, financing, writing, shooting, directing and often also starring in his own films. Shinya Tsukamoto is literally uncompromising.
Fully authorised by the director and featuring first-hand accounts from many of his close collaborators, the brand new book Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto is a fascinating and in-depth look at the life and work of an intense, groundbreaking filmmaker who counts Quentin Tarantino, Tsui Hark, cyberpunk novelist William Gibson and The Matrix directors The Wachowski Brothers among his most loyal fans.
With many of his films now being released on DVD (including Tetsuo I & II, Bullet Ballet, Hiruko the Goblin, Tokyo Fist and Gemini), and his latest masterpiece Vital ready to hit cinema screens, 2005 promises to be the year of Shinya Tsukamoto!
Don't miss out. Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto is your guide to the nightmarish, chaotic, and hauntingly beautiful universe of one of the leading figures in world cinema.
Includes:
- The blow-by-blow history of the making of all of Shinya Tsukamoto's films, from Tetsuo: The Iron Man to Vital.
- First-hand eye-witness accounts from Shinya Tsukamoto and many of his closest collaborators, including Tomorowo Taguchi, Tadanobu Asano, Kei Fujiwara and composer Chu Ishikawa.
- In-depth analysis of each film.
- An exhaustive look at Tsukamoto's legendary short films The Phantom of Regular Size and The Adventure of Denchu Kozo.
- Detailed coverage of the director's early activities in underground theater and 8mm filmmaking.
- A look at Tsukamoto's extensive credits as an actor in films by such directors as Takashi Shimizu, Teruo Ishii, Takashi Miike, Kaizo Hayashi and Alex Cox.
- Exclusive revelations on the future of the legendary Tetsuo saga.
- Over 200 stills and photographs, including rare pictures from the director's private collection.
- 240 pages, including 16 pages of full colour stills and poster reproductions.
- Detailed information on DVD availability.
- An exclusive foreword by Takashi Miike.
- And much more…
Published by FAB Press, the book is available as a paperback and as a very exclusive limited edition hardcover.
Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto is out now! You can order directly from FAB Press.
Latest news:
September 11, 2006 - Firecracker features a side-by-side review of Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto ("an immensely readable survey of Tsukamoto's distinctive approach and oeuvre") and The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film ("Mes and Sharp's superb tome").
May 29, 2006 - Iron Man author Tom Mes will introduce the screening of Shinya Tsukamoto's Haze at the Camera Japan festival in Rotterdam on Friday, June 2.
May 26, 2006 - Kumite, one of France's leading Asian film mags, has a look at Iron Man in its May issue: "Halfway between biography and auteurist study, Iron Man could be considered the literary equivalent of Paul Schrader's film Mishima. [...] A veritable tour de force on the part of Mes."
March 7, 2006 - Olaf Möller covers Iron Man in his Books Around column in Cinema Scope (winter issue, #25): "Another fine, diligently researched, well thought-through, and enjoyably readable monograph on an axiomatic auteur of modern Japanese cinema."
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