Sukiyaki Western Django

Filmmaker Takashi Miike has established a unique cult following, not just because he is a genre bender, but the man is completely crazy.  I mean that in a good way, because Miike has not only fashioned and amazing oeuvre in such a short time, but he's brave and bold, carrying a much bigger set of balls than the average ambitious filmmaker.  Only Miike would choose to make a Japanese tribute to the Spaghetti Westerns his next project (specifically, Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 classic 'Django') and only he would cast fellow cult filmmaker and sometime actor Quentin Tarrantino in a cameo as a gunfighter.  'Sukiyaki Western Django' may be Miike's first major English language film, but it's also a rollicking good time, a wild explosion of ideas and styles and a film that may confuse average viewers and test the patience of even his most loyal fans.

Miike follows the familiar western set-up of a mysterious stranger riding into town and playing both sides of rival gangs much like Sergio Leone's 'A Fistful of Dollars' (which itself was a copy of Kurasawa's 'Yojimbo') except this time the cast is entirely Japanese speaking in (almost unintelligible) English.  The enigmatic 'Gunman' (Hideaki Ito) finds himself in the middle of a feud over a hidden mother lode of gold between the rival "Red" and "White" gangs, who have taken over a small American town founded by Japanese immigrants.  On one side is Kiyomori (Koichi Sato) leader of the Heike Red gang, who despite his "Scooby-Doo" sounding voice, is a hard-nosed tyrant obsessed with schooling his men on the classic "War of the Roses" story and now prefers to be called "Henry."  His opposite is Yoshitsune ( Yusuke Iseya) Commander of the White Genji gang who despite being a a merciless swordsman (who can literally cut flying bullets in half), chooses to follow a life of fighting instead of the philosophical way of the Samurai.   The Gunman learns that not only have both gangs nearly destroyed the once peaceful town, but their warring cultures are linked by a forbidden union between a Genji woman (Yoshino Kimura) and a Heike farmer which produced a young an innocent boy.  The Gunman's arrival will ultimately lead to the decimation of both gangs, but not without a little help from an unlikely ally (Kaori Momoi).

The plot of  'Sukiyaki Western Django' is more than a little familiar to fans of the American Western genre, but what matters is not the details, but how they are presented.  Like the Japanese dish sukiyaki, the film is a mish-mash of styles, homages and yes, disturbing imagery (which Miike is no stranger to).  At times, the subject matter can be quite mature (a young boy witnesses his father murdered, followed by the rape of his mother who later turns the experience into an interpretive dance) and other elements feel as if they've been lifted from a cartoon.  Miike even employs animation in one flashback sequence involving Kaori Momoi (still luminous and sensual at fifty-two as a grandmother revealed to have once been the nastiest of gunfighters) while Tarrantino's appearances feel as if they've been lifted from a High School play (including an artificial backdrop).  Though Miike once again examines the human condition and the nastiness that people can inflict upon one another, the film is not without its share of spry action sequences and gun battles.  Though not a film even Miike's most loyal fans would expect from him, the picture is an entertaining exercise and often absorbing experiment.