mithilbhoras-103-581296

Shinya Tsukamoto's cult classic Tetsuo the iron man (1988) simply is beyond words! Cinema takes an obnoxious, bizarre and graphic form and results in the creation of one of the most scariest and shocking film experiences. It's hard to believe that this film had a very low budget and was shot with a 16 mm. All the elements such as the jaw-dropping stop motion effect, the incredible metallic soundtrack, the smart sound mixing, the extreme film editing, the black and white cinematography and an highly innovative story come together beautifully and prove that cinema, indeed, is limitless and low budget can never suppress a man's vision.

At times, the film takes a (deliciously) surreal form but we never lose our grasp on understanding Tetsuo's story-line. This film is not, even for a millisecond, afraid of throwing the most bizarre and gut-wrenching images at it's audiences (Which are hardly pretentious, for the record). There is, supposedly, a metaphor hidden in Tetsuo that man has developed a 'fetish' for machines and has been consumed by it. The film graphically shows people transforming into hybrids of metal and flesh which was quite brilliantly filmed. The idea of recycling metallic scrap as props was a smart move!

This film is, obviously, not for everyone. And whether you hate it or love it, Tetsuo still manages to rape your senses (I loved it!), giving you an experience that is totally new. I warn you again that this film is extremely bizarre and experimental so enter at your own will. A nightmarish near-masterpiece that easily beats David Lynch's Eraserhead, a film which had originally inspired Tetsuo.

4.7/5

Beautiful. Just beautiful. When I was expecting another particular survival story, Roeg showed me an amazingly peculiar one. Set in the harsh regions of Australia (The exact location in the continent, in my opinion, doesn't matter) two kids, a 14 year old girl and her 6 year old brother, are abandoned by their father (He also tries to kill them but fails) who eventually sets their car on fire and kills himself. With no means of transport and no civilized humans around, the kids simply head out into the wilderness. They soon encounter an Aborigine boy who's on a "Walkabout": an Aborigine ritual which involves surviving in the wild for months with the aid of hunting skills after the adolescent reaches a certain age. Thence begins a beautiful and pure journey where the three characters try to outlive the harsh environment with the hunting skills the Aborigine boy possesses.

Right at this moment, I am spellbound by this film's images and I will admit that I got to witness a new face of cinema today. Instead of showing us a sweet conventional survival story, Director Nicholas Roeg dwells on narrating the story in a different and thought-provoking manner. The film has been given a complex and layered narration that is a bit ambiguous. Through smart editing and significant number of freeze frames the director, during the Walkabout journey, tries to compare the two completely different cultures of men.

One scene is particularly my favorite where the film alternates between the Aborigine boy butchering a Kangaroo and a butcher in some civilized city doing the same. These astonishing moments question the very nature of human beings. Whether we are lost in some unknown, remote and harsh region of the world or are behind the brick walls of the concrete jungle, we are all simply trying to survive in this cruel world. Roeg never even gives us a clear idea why the father attempts to kill his children and suicides. Though, that is a clear indication of the fact that the father couldn't survive in the civilized world. He was too weak that is the reason why he gave up his life.

This film leaves the complexity of the civilized world (Symbolized by the car burnt down by the father) and follows a journey on the beauty of companionship and purity of life. Yes, Pure is the keyword here. We are transported back to the age when everything was "Pure". The film's wonderful finale is the most powerful testament of this aspect. Sometimes certain situations arose in the film when the children are extremely close at getting discovered and saved by civilized people but aren't. At this point, Roeg's camera briefly focuses on these people and shows us what they are doing. There are certain thought-provoking messages hidden in these scenes which, of course, I will not reveal here and will allow you, my dear readers, to discover it's beauty by yourselves.

And then there's the spellbinding cinematography and Roeg's amazing direction. Both capture the wilderness very meticulously and the "pillow shots" (A curious shot where the camera focuses on the surrounding elements, for brief moments, of the environment where the action takes place) makes the film more believable. There are beautiful shots of birds, trees, reptiles, the stark desert, the sunrise/sunset, etc. that fills the film with fresh images of mother nature. Walkabout is a beautiful and complex near-masterpiece film from the land of Australia. Just walk into Walkabout and you won't regret it.