Sukiyaki Western Django

Takashi Miike's SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is essential a tribute to spaghetti westerns. Like any film that Miike is issued though, SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO, which in its very name references a Japanese delicacy and the western, DJANGO, becomes an odd, but well directed piece of cinema. Miike's influences apropos to the western films he's basing the movie off of are clear, but more interestingly, Miike's common themes of poor farmers with children comes into play. The story centers around two warring factions of samurai/townspeople vying for an unimportant town with hidden treasure. A man without a name enters the town, and his quick draw makes him the subject of a from-everywhere pull for his talents. Through flashbacks, splattered gore, and charming tributes which many unfamiliar with the films he's referencing might not get, Miike crafts a pretty damn good action film. There are some flaws here, the decision to make all of the actors speak in English when Miike himself is not an English speaker was a mistake, and the implantation of Quentin Tarantino at the beginning of the film and near the end as a gunner descending into old age is a little indulgent of Tarantino's sensibilities, while not really forming that character clearly enough. But Miike's action here is occasionally quite beautiful, and as he moves from parody to tribute to his own brand of kick-ass literal gut wrenching, SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO clarifies itself as an artistic statement on the western: the descending powers of men without names, the trivialities of war-like fighting, and pure horror / fun.
Sukiyaki Western Django: ★★★