Bullets 'n' Babes DVD

Tetsuo: The First Cut (1989 / 2010)

Just prior to the Japanese opening of the re-edited Tetsuo: The Bullet Man director Shinya Tsukamoto released a celebratory (cash in) version of the original black & white cyber punk classic. Hidden inside a book / dvd combo, titled Perfect Tetsuo, it contains a never before seen 77 minute cut of the film. That marks a total of 10 minutes of new footage in the salary man’s frenetic transformation into metal junk.

Tetsuo: The First Cut is mainly service for fans, a curiosity product without major practical value. As exciting news as extended Tetsuo might be, it is, in fact, a lesser cut than the one that hit theaters in 1989. A quick look reveals that rather than inserting many new scenes Tsukamoto has mainly extended existing ones. Examples would include additional factory shots before the opening title, the main character making a brief stop on the streets during his metro escape, and an extended video tape sequence.

The problem is as follows. The theatrical cut was a showcase of visceral energy and pacing. This is what made the film a classic – even Tsukamoto was basically following the path of his predecessor Sogo Ishii. The extended edition tones it down by a notch, and gives the viewer more breathing time. Rather than being more insane than ever, the new Tetsuo feels somehow more restrained. Even with pacing issues ignored, one can question whether these small glimpses of new footage really contribute anything of importance to the film.

A more valuable than the re-edited film is the 160-page book that was, of course, intended as the main product. It comes with behind the scenes photos, storyboards, cast and director interviews, video release covers, special effects articles, and much more. All there Tetsuo movies have been given equal amount of exposure in the book’s black & white and color pages. Naturally, it’s all written in Japanese. For language impaired Iron Men Perfect Tetsuo’s book value is questionable. For Japanese reading fan it’s a purchase worth a consideration, although the 5460 yen price tag is a bit high indeed.

The set comes in a hardcover case that holds the book and the dvd. The dimensions are approximately 26 x 18 x 3 centimeters. The dvd is packed in a standard dvd case, rather than paper sleeve. Size considered, it would have been a nice gesture from the publisher to slip in a folded poster, but no luck here.









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Top: R2 Italy (Raro Video)
Middle: R2J (Asmik)
Bottom: R2J: Tetsuo: The First Cut (Kodansha)































This is more complicated than it might look. Here's the deal.

The Italian Raro Video release is believed to be the best English subtitled edition of the film. I cannot confirm, as I have never seen any of the British or US dvds. It's a native PAL transfer, although combing is visible in every single frame (rather than a mix of combing and non combing frames, as usual with interlaced transfers). This is clearly the worst of the three transfers. The audio options are original Japanese mono, and a fantastic 5.1 remix. While I usually hate remixes, this one is far better than any of the mono tracks on any of the three dvds. The sound effects are intact, the track is only more clear, and especially the music comes out really great. Both the video and audio are likely to be R2 France Studio Canal ports, as their dvds seem to share the same specks (and studio Canal is known for creating good 5.1 mixes). The Italian disc, however, has no extras. The film runs 64:26.

The R2J by Asmik is the new 2010 release. There is an old R2J from the early 2000's, and it has a different set of extras, possibly different transfer, I don't know. The new release is native NTSC (interlaced), comes with ok quality mono track, and has only trailers as extras. Audio and video quality are the second best of the three releases. No subtitles. The film runs 67:09.

Tetsuo: The First Cut, as mentioned in the previous post, is only available in the book release. The new (interlaced) transfer is fantastic. The only flaw is print damage that is often visible in the first frame of many shots (in the top or bottom of the frame). Unfortunately the mono audio is the worst of the three releases. It's not terrible, but pretty quiet, lacking punch. There are no extras or subtitles on the disc. The film runs 77:19.

Let's hope Tartan or someone else will do a Shogun Assassin job on this film... reconstruct the original cut from the extended print (like Animeigo used the Lone Wolf and Cub prints to re-create Shogun Assassin with superior picture quality), and slap a good remix on top.