The Noodle Western
Added 10/22/2009
Extras: the reason to actually buy anything on DVD. This DVD has some of those, including a making of feature which is, for the most part, comedy goldmine. Outside of that, there are some deleted scenes, the trailers, some totally unrelated trailers and the usual language options. The unrelated trailers show up when the DVD starts up, but can be skipped, apparently. Gotta have trailers, reminds me of VHS. I used to have one of those, but it had problems, and eventually someone threw it away. It had ben disassembled partly to make it work, so it sort of looked like rash at the time, I guess. Missing are director/cast commentary, but the last time I saw a DVD from this director it was in japanese, and like so many people outside of that particular country I can't understand a whole lot in japanese.
The film itself:
This movie does not take itself seriously at all. Not that Miike Takeshi films on the whole do that a lot. It is a bizarre hybrid Samurai film / spaghetti western, which is amusing since so many spaghetti westerns were blatant rip offs of samurai films to begin with. "Magnificent seven" and "Fistful of dollars" being the most notable examples. The samurai films tended to steal from Shakespeare, so the whole thing has now gone full circle and is about to make a new round.
Everybody speaks english, correctly but with a distinct accent. There seems to be some budget; the sets alone must have cost at least 30 million yen, and the whole thing is set high upon a moor somewhere and involves loads of extras.
The plot doesn't really matter, since the whole movie can be seen as just one weird scene after another, spaced closely enough together to keep one interested. And the scenes are spectacular and memorable and make sense in context... most of the time.
But it doesn't matter what I say. If you deliberately buy something called "Sukiyaki Western Django," knowing it was directed by Miike Takeshi you are probably a fan of the genre and an anime otaku at heart and know full well what you are getting into. And you'll love it. And you'll laugh at the references.
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Stylised, shallow and senseless
Added 9/28/2009
Wouldn't it be great if this film lived up to the expectations and hype, delivering a fusion of Sergio Leone Western, Quentin Tarantino movie, and Japanese Samurai movie..? Sadly, instead of finding the best qualities these movies have to offer, this effort plumbs the depths.
Instead of the style and iconic imagery of a Sergio Leone Western, we have only empty violence.
Instead of the electrifying dialogue of a Tarantino movie, we have only an echo of his overindulgence.
Instead of the depth and symbolism of a samurai movie, we have.. well, frankly all this has in common is that the actors are the same nationality.
Clearly set out as a homage to the Leone Western, we get a complete retread of the classic Yojimbo, (previously remade as A Fistful of Dollars, and Last Man Standing), set utterly anachronistically in a Japanese setting, but with Western trappings. There is nothing about the story OR the visuals that make sense, even though you might occasionally gawp at some undeniably original visual motifs. The script - well, if it ever did make sense, it is so butchered by a Japanese cast murdering the English language, it's impossible to tell.
If only they had just had the actors speak in their own language. Or if only they had just made it set in a true Western environment. If only they had Tarantino rework the script instead of give a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
Actually, forget all that. Better to say... If only they had never made the movie in the first place. Unless novel variations of violence and extremely and pointlessly surreal imagery are your thing, avoid.
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Sukiyaki what?!
Added 9/21/2009
Forget it folks. The reviews you've read are trying to make this film into something bigger than it is. First off, the Japanese need to leave Westerns alone. The Italians Are the only ones that have proven they can make a knock-down, drag-out western. They even made the American Western look bad with a lot of their classics. Especially from Sergio Leone. This film tries to play like a Leone western and fails miserably. I like Miikes' films, but this genre he needs to leave alone. Granted there are a lot of people that will like this, mostly because of Miike's name. So, I suggest you rent this film first, if you don't like it, come back to Amazon.com and buy a good western. Amazon's got a lot of them.
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A Postmodern Spaghetti Western that Misses the Mark
Added 8/23/2009
Sukiyaki Western Django (or SWD, as I'll hereafter refer to it) attempts to be a postmodern spaghetti western in the tradition of The Man with No Name Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), or Once Upon a Time in the West or even My Name Is Nobody but, unfortunately, falls short of the mark.
Here is the gist: In Nevada, two gangs, the Heiki and Genji (represented by the colors Red and White) are at war over the town's local gold mine, and have essentially driven out the population. Enter an unnamed gunslinging stranger who is trying to set the town right, and gets involved in the aftermath of a tragic love affair. What ensues is a garish and confusing mass of flashbacks, gunfights, philosophizing, and blood that has no semblance of plot whatsoever. And that's about it.
The problem with SWD is that it has all the excesses of a 1960s spaghetti western, but none of the philosophical underpinnings or basic character interest to make it a compelling film. The "hero" who comes into town is actually not seen for 75% of the film and is ineffectual; neither the Reds or the Whites are clearly differentiated - they're just two evil gangs. Even the townsfolk (with the exception of the eccentric sheriff) are essentially nonentities, as listless as the late autumn landscape. Quentin Tarantino, I believe, served as one of the producers of the film, and has a small acting part in it which lends the film a little bit of kitsch appeal. What can be said for SWD is its art direction - the sets and costumes, while certainly wild and weird, are nonetheless effective, eye-catching, and well done. The film is certainly enjoyable to look at. That said, SWD, while not entirely unwatchable (there are actually some fairly effective and well-choreographed fight scenes, especially towards the end), is close.
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Visually inventive, blissful filmmaking - as crazy as the original Django
Added 7/5/2009
A lone gunman rides into a small mining town, where two competing clans are searching for a legendary treasure. If you hadn't seen the original "spaghetti western(s)" this Japanese noodle version riffs off of, then you might be forgiven for thinking it was just plain loopy and incoherent. But if you've seen Sergio Corbucci's Django (which is truly insane, but in a cool way), or even A Fistful of Dollars or the Japanese samurai flick Yojimbo that were inspirations for this attempt to tie the Spaghetti Western back to its Japanese samurai roots, you'd see that this is not so strange. In Django, Franco Nero is a silent type who shows up, dragging a mysterious coffin through the muddy streets, in a town ravaged by bandits. The locals hope beyond hope he can help them out, but he's clearly got his own plans. The basic plot here is along the same lines, but Miike pulls out all the stops with the visuals. A cameo by Quentin Tarantino is a bit of a distraction, and so is the decision to have all the characters speak a bad English that sounds like they're reading poorly translated subtitles - though that recalls the fact that for most Italian films of the era it was standard practice to have an international cast speaking their own language, and the dialogue would be dubbed (badly) for subsequent distribution. Still, the whole is so visually stunning (beautiful's not quite the word, for that you should look at Wong Kar-Wai's Ashes of Time Redux) and the gunplay and situations so inventive, and allusions so abundant and unexpected and clever (e.g. Tarantino's anachronistic nod to the anime classic Akira) that such minor distractions are forgivable and as a whole this is highly recommended for lovers of extreme and arty cinema, for lovers of Westerns and samurai flicks, and for anyone who knows how exciting and unpredictable Takashi Miike can be in his prolific career.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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BAD CUT of an Awesome movie
Added 12/24/2008
I don't know why, but this wonderful movie has been cut by about 20 MINUTES. Blasphemy! I don't know where to find a full version containing the original theatrical version with Region 1 coding, but this disc certainly isn't it.
In regards to the movie, it's a brilliant meditation on the reflexive nature of the Spaghetti Western genre as a back-and-forth between Japanese and American cinema replete with beautiful cinematography, clever action sequences, snappy dialog and constant meta-humor within the plot, characters, and sets. It is at all times vibrantly colorful and thoughtful in its execution, and I would rank it with "HERO" in terms of aesthetics and "KILL BILL Vol. 2" in terms of tone and action.
All of which is why I'm giving this particular package 1 out of 5. Not a single bit of it is a waste of time! Boo, butchers!
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Cool for collectors
Added 10/30/2008
I like the fact that the distributor is releasing special collectors edition packaging...I'm not sure if I am going to purchase this one or the whole set because they look super cool!!!!
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Raping the minds
Added 2/4/2009
Deploying a modern weaponry, Black and White gangs of young sexy males mercilessly murder each other in American-western style to rape whoevew and control businesses in ancient Japan.
Blood, fighting, copulating, psycho have been mixed in this parody on Hollywood westerns of yakuza/sikiyaki specific.
A movie leaves a lot to be continued.
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