Movie Description
SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is prolific Japanese cult director Takashi Miike's samurai tribute to the Spaghetti Western genre. With an irreverent style and an obvious knowledge of the oater canon, Miike sets out to celebrate the factory line artistry of films such as Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and Sergio Carbucci's DJANGO, while fully embracing the dazzling, post-modern aesthetic of movies such as KILL BILL and DESPERADO. And while homage and cinematic genre mash-ups can both be high on genuine artistic vision, it's clear from the supremely stylized opening prologue--with its transparent set pieces, outrageous kill shots, and cameo from that anointer of cult films himself, Quentin Tarantino--that Miike is out to have fun above all.
The story follows a Man With No Name gunfighter brought to a small village in Nevada to protect the townspeople from two rival gangs at war over a treasure hidden in the nearby hills. Themes of honor, tradition, loyalty, and family give the film some dramatic weight, but SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO primarily works as a high-octane action flick, albeit one made by a director with style and smarts. The samurai sword lust, kung-fu bar brawls, and John Woo-style operatic gun play remain completely gripping regardless of plot. Yet though the basic story has been told by everyone from Dashiell Hammett to the Coen Brothers to Akira Kurosawa, it's one that has clearly worked its way into the pantheon of contemporary myth and makes for solid dramatic ground on which an entertaining spectacle can unfurl.
Two connoisseurs of violence--prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike and American icon Quention Tarantino--team up for this genre mash-up. SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO follows two clashing clans in Japan as they both try to lure a talented shooter to their side. Tarantino makes a brief appearance in this film that pays homage to both the spaghetti western and classic Japanese cinema.
| Credits | | Producer: | Hirotsugu Yoshida, Toshinori Yamaguchi | | Cast: | Kaori Momoi, Yoshino Kimura, Yusuke Iseya |
Editorial Reviews
"[A] feast for genre fetishists, a loving and lurid pastiche of the spaghetti westerns that were themselves lurid pastiches of classic Hollywood cowboy pictures."
New York Times - A. O. Scott (08/29/2008)
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his saga of rival treasure-hunting gangs makes EL TOPO look like HIGH NOON."
Total Film - Jamie Russell (02/01/2009)
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his recounts an archetypal samurai-feud story as a hallucinatory tribute to Italian Westerns....It's a fever-dream of a film..."
Empire - Kim Newman (03/01/2009)
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