Vivid and wild, Sukiyaki Western Django will dazzle your eyes, make you laugh, and might even make you cry. Takeshi Miike’s 2007 stunning spaghetti western features an all-star cast of Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Kaori Momoi, and even Quentin Tarantino. This portrayal of western and samurai traditions come together in a fast-paced “wild east” action tale to wow your senses.

The term “spaghetti western” originally referred to movies about the American west made by Italian directors. Now it is more loosely used to describe cowboy westerns that are low-budget, sometimes purposely-so, in order to pay homage or parody the genre. Sukiyaki Western Django takes it’s name from one of the most famous spaghetti westerns called Django by Sergio Corbucci, which features a stirring musical score, plenty of gunfights, and a quiet anti-hero. Likewise, the word “sukiyaki” is also a reference. Sukiyaki is a popular Japanese one-pot dish of simple ingredients cooked together with no added broth. Miike’s decision to combine the two dramatically different and nationally iconic references into his title, should sum up his vision - a retake on the “east meets west” theme.

When a lone gunman strolls into a remote town fabled as the location of a rare treasure, he finds two warring clans struggling for control of the city and loot. After he demonstrates his samurai-like gun-slinging skills, each clan tries to tempt him to join their side of the fight. Along the way he encounters love, greed, jealously, and a hailstorm of machine gun fire. (What?!)

The intro tries too hard to fulfill it’s spaghetti western requirements and falls flat, being quite laborious to endure. Once passed that, the story picks up considerably and sends the viewer on a Kill Bill-style ride of fighting, deception, and more fighting. The only thing missing is more blood. Quentin Tarantino is only given an acting credit for his brief appearances, but if he didn’t have his hand in the directing at all then Takeshi Miike is his long-lost son. SWD has Tarantino written all over it, literally; the official website quotes Quentin as saying, “Miike is one of the greatest directors living today”…

SWD has left the critics divided, with some loving the over-the-top visuals while others feel the poorly-spoken English constrains the characters into two-dimensional comic book villains. I’m somewhere in the middle, loving the seemingly purposeful effort put forth by Miike to impress Tarantino, but having the entire cast speak English felt so awkward and I found myself reading the captions anyway.

There are several references to, both historical and cinematic, “Western” and Japanese. Django, Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, and Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, as well as the historical Gempei War and Wars of the Roses have been artfully mashed into the script to really drive home the mixing of opposing cultures.

Overall, I love that Miike and Tarantino have worked together and I’d love to see more, but I really dislike westerns. If you want some great visuals, a couple of laughs, and something to please everyone, Sukiyaki Western Django is the film for you. Just don’t show this to your unexposed friends as their first Asian movie. They’ll be quite confused and terribly disappointed.

This trailer is really awesome - you’ve got to see this!

Official Site: www.sukiyakimovie.com