Sukiyaki Western Django
| Sukiyaki Western: Django | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Takashi Miike |
| Produced by | Masato Ôsaki |
| Starring | Hideaki Ito Masanobu Ando Shun Oguri Quentin Tarantino |
| Cinematography | Toyomichi Kurita |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) |
Release dates |  September 15, 2007 |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | English |
Sukiyaki Western: Django (スキヤキ・ウエスタン ジャンゴ, Sukiyaki Uesutan Jango) is a 2007 Japanese film by Takashi Miike. The English language Western is inspired by Sergio Corbucci's "Spaghetti Western" Django. It has numerous references to that movie, including use of the Luis Bacalov theme song, but tells a completely different story, bearing more direct resemblance to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars.
Plot
Set a few hundred years after the Genpei War, the Minamoto and Taira gangs face off in a town named Yuta, while a deadly gunman comes to the aid of the townsfolk.
Cast
- Hideaki Ito as The Gunman
- Koichi Sato as Kiyomori
- Yusuke Iseya as Yoshitsune
- Masanobu Ando as Yoichi
- Takaaki Ishibashi as Benkei
- Shun Oguri as Akira
- Masato Sakai as Shigemori
- Yoshino Kimura as Shizuka
- Teruyuki Kagawa as Sheriff Hoanka
- Kaori Momoi as Ruriko
- Yutaka Matsushige as Toshio
- Renji Ishibashi as Mura
- Yoji Tanaka as Munemori
- Toshiyuki Nishida as Piripero
- Quentin Tarantino as Ringo
- Ruka Uchida
- Sansei Shiomi
- Hideaki Sato
- Christian Storms
Other credits
- Art Direction: Nao Sasaki
- Costume Design: Michiko Kitamura
- Dialogue coach: Nadia Venesse
Manga
On June 8, 2007, a manga adaptation by Kotobuki Shiriagari began serialization on Shogakukan's Big Comic Superior.
Western critical reception
When Sukiyaki Western Django premiered as part of the "Midnight Madness" program at the Toronto International Film Festival, it received mixed reviews. Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! magazine wrote admiringly:
"The fast-paced action is well staged on a set that borrows from both western and samurai traditions; Miike mixes both good old gunplay (a Gatling gun that’s housed in the original film’s iconic coffin) and martial arts swordplay, which intermingle cohesively until the last fight. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Miike’s western is his decision to use a Japanese cast to speak English. Supported by English subtitles, it’s a peculiar choice that at first feels like a novelty, only to fade into the film’s absorbing environment. Sukiyaki Western Django feels very much like a genuine western, and with it Miike demonstrates his mastery of working a genre film until it becomes a creation of his very own."[1]
On the other end of the spectrum, Will Sloan of Inside Toronto wrote:
"This is a crazy, fast-paced spectacle of a movie, with some stunning action scenes and gorgeously colourful production design. The problem is, it’s an empty spectacle. Miike pays homage to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci, but forgets that those directors genuinely loved the kitschy pop culture they emulated instead of regarding it with smug superiority. Kill Bill was a comic book, yes, but Tarantino allowed his actors room to create characters the audience could care about, while Miike, by having his cast speak awkward English, is perversely trying to keep their characters two-dimensional and keep the audience distant...Ultimately, Sukiyaki Western Django is an exhausting experience. This is not a film you become involved in – it isn’t funny or engaging. Rather, it’s one that you’re supposed to watch with a cool, hip sense of ironic detachment, sitting in the audience and saying to yourself, “Aren’t I cool for laughing at this?” How could anyone enjoy such a self-conscious time at the movies?"[2]
References
- ^ Lindsay, Cam. "TIFF Reviews: Sukiyaki Western: Django". Exclaim!.
- ^ Sloan, Will. "Toronto Film Festival 2007, Part 4 - "Battle for Haditha" and "Sukiyaki Western Django"". Inside Toronto.