Legendary Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto took center stage at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) for a masterclass on his career — and his refusal to give up his independence. Best known overseas for the 1989 cyberpunk landmark “Tetsuo: The Iron Man”, Tsukamoto spoke candidly about working outside the studio system for more than four decades. (Credits: Variety)
Shinya Tsukamoto on Staying Independent After Tetsuo
The masterclass, moderated by TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo, traced the director’s journey from 8mm underground films to one of Japanese cinema’s most distinctive voices. Ichiyama called “Tetsuo” a shock — not only for its body horror, but because a film of that intensity could emerge from Japan’s independent scene at all.
That DIY spirit never left him. Across films like “Tokyo Fist” and “Bullet Ballet,” Tsukamoto has built his reputation on frantic editing, industrial imagery, and a fascination with the body under stress — all made on his own terms.
Why Tsukamoto Keeps Making War Films: ‘Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?’
Tsukamoto also addressed why he can’t pull away from war films. The filmmaker who built his name on bodies transformed by metal has spent the past decade on bodies destroyed by war — culminating in his new English-language feature “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?”
The film follows Vietnam veteran Allen Nelson, who suffers from severe PTSD after serving from 1966, and confronts the memory of what he did through a child’s devastating question. Rodney Hicks stars as Nelson, with Geoffrey Rush, Tatyana Ali and Lily Franky in support. Shot across the United States, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan, it premiered in competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival on September 4, winning the Leoncino d’Oro, and opened in Japanese theaters on September 11.
As Tsukamoto put it: he doesn’t want young people to mistake war for a place to demonstrate heroism — a warning that runs through every frame of his war trilogy.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
