Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western: Django
Directed by	Takashi Miike
Produced by	Masato Ôsaki
Written by	Masa Nakamura
Starring	Hideaki Ito Masanobu Ando Shun Oguri Quentin Tarantino
Music by	Kôji Endô
Cinematography	Toyomichi Kurita
Editing by	Taiji Shimamura
Studio	Geneon Entertainment Toei Company Dentsu Productions Ltd. Sedic Sukiyaki Western Django Film Partners TV Asahi
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan)
Release date(s)	September 15, 2007
Running time	121 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	English

Sukiyaki Western Django (スキヤキ ウェスタン ジャンゴ, Sukiyaki Uesutan Jango) is a 2007 Japanese film by Takashi Miike. The title of this English language western refers to the Japanese dish, sukiyaki, as well as Sergio Corbucci's spaghetti western film, Django. It also takes inspiration from the "Man with No Name" stock character variously used in the spaghetti western genre but most notably in the Dollars trilogy by Sergio Leone (initially inspired by Akira Kurosawa's jidaigeki film Yojimbo).

Plot

Inspired by the historical rivalry between the Genji and Heike clans, which ushered in the era of samurai dominance in Japanese history, Sukiyaki Western Django is set "a few hundred years after the Genpei War". The Genji and Heike gangs face off in a town named "Yuta" in "Nevata", when a deadly gunman comes into town to help a prostitute get revenge on the warring gangs. The film contains numerous references both to the historical Genpei War and to Wars of the Roses, as well as the films Yojimbo and Django.

Cast

• Hideaki Ito as The Gunman
• Kōichi Satō 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 as Heihachi

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."

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?"

Manga

On June 8, 2007, a manga adaptation by Kotobuki Shiriagari began serialization on Shogakukan's Big Comic Superior.

External links

• Sukiyaki Western: Django
• Sukiyaki Western: Django at the Internet Movie Database
• Sukiyaki Western: Django at AllRovi
• Sukiyaki Western Django at Metacritic
• Sukiyaki Western Django at Rotten Tomatoes