Japanese director Takashi Miike’s dizzying “Sukiyaki Western Django”, a tongue in cheek rip off of old spagetti westerns and Kurosawa’s Yojimbo thrown in with some stylish samurai action has got to one of the most bizzare films I’ve seen in a while – its performed entirely in English by the whole Japanese cast.

Set during “The Genpei Wars” at the end of the 1100s, the Minamoto (Whites) and Taira (Reds) gangs face off in a town named Yuda, while a deadly gunman (Ito Hideaki) comes to the aid of the townsfolk. Threatening to shift the balance of power by joining either of the gangs, the long stalemate is soon put to an end as the shootouts begin.

I’ve never really been a fan of Takashi Miike’s films but Sukiyaki was surprisingly refreshing and entertaining. There was some difficulty understanding the heavily accented english and I had to ironically turn on the japanese subs to get a better idea of what’s going on, but all in all the film boasts some really fantastic character designs and excellent photography and art direction. After watching it on rental dvd I ordered the 3 disc limited edition dvd shortly after :

I hope to watch the making of and extras on the 2 bonus dvds soon. The storyboard book that came with the boxset was a real treat too. I wonder who’s the storyboard artist ?

You can get the 3 disc limited edition dvd here.

Sukiyaki Western Django official website
Sukiyaki Western Django entry on Wikipedia