David O'Connell
Sukiyaki Western: Django @ The Sydney Film Festival
June 13th 2008 00:28
Named after the '66 spaghetti western, "Django", Takashi Miike's latest film is thunderous explosion of colours, sounds and fanatical style, confined to the Western genre, but somehow rematerializing far from it.
"Sukiyaki Western: Django" is a near-perfect homage to the Western genre, borrowing spade-loads from Sergio Leone and Kurosawa, most notably one of my all-time favourites, "Yojimbo". Instead of falling flat into licking the heels of his predecessors, though, Miike reinvents the genre, making this a singularly unique vision.
Immediately, audiences will be put off by the fact that the Japanese cast speaks in English, with no dubbing. It's mispronounced, it's hard to understand, it's very stiffly delivered; initially, the viewer feels put off by this forced mechanic, but the sumptuous visuals soon destroy any need for dialogue.
Then, we become accustomed to it, and it seems like part of a natural universe, though one we could never imagine, one where the Heike Reds and the Ganji Whites face off in a small town in Japanese-labelled Nevada. It's a bizarre alternate universe, but one where a lone gunslinger rides into town between the two gangs, and we know exactly what we're in for.
Ronald Bergan, in the Guardian Film Blog, criticized the use of colour film, claiming that most modern films take little advantage of the axis of colour, choosing only to represent reality. Bergan might graciously accept "Sukiyaki", though, as every scene is overflowing with orchestrated colours, from the incredible costumes and settings of the gangs, to the beautifully constructed flashbacks.
As the excellent review on MidnightEye points out, the stilted delivery of the English dialogue does not impair the film; the actors are finely choreographed, lifting expressions from cowboys and samurais. Miike is a patient director, and he must have battled for ages getting the right look from his actors. Kaori Momoi plays one of the female characters and she's incredible. The actress is over 50 years old, a legend in Japanese cinema, and still looks fantastic - and then she looks deadly.
"Sukiyaki Western: Django" is not a movie of soft reflection or a study of human character, but it is a camp recreation of the ideals of a classic Western. An outlaw with a gun, dark villains, stylized violence and a town stained red with bloodshed. This is filmmaking at its highest point, forming the tendrils of fantastical dreams into a visual medium, laid flat onto celluloid.
I say: Fans of the genre will go ballistic, and even unsuspecting audience members should find the movie unique and creative. A lot of violence, though, and the movie does walk the line into the realm of bizarre nonsense.
See it for: Quentin Tarantino owes a debt to Asian cinema, and he saddles up with a cameo as the only non-Japanese character in the film.
*this image is from the review on FirstShowing.net
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Great review that just makes me want to see it more.
Comment by Damo
A farcical look at the farcical concept of Westerns.
Them Crazy Japanese Film Makers.
Comment by Cibbuano
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