SUKIYAKI
WESTERN DJANGO
(Japan, R, 2007, 121 min)
Famed Japanese director
Takashi Miike (best known for cult classics Audition, Ichi the Killer,
and The City of Lost
Souls) launches a CinemaScope ambush of the
spaghetti western with six-shooters ablazing! Two clans, the white,
Genji clan, led by Yoshitsune, and the red Heike clan, led by Kiyomori,
battle for a legendary treasure hidden in a desolate mountain
town. One day, a lone gunman, burdened with deep emotional
scars but blessed with incredible shooting skills, drifts into
town. Two clans try to woo the lone gunman to their sides,
but he has ulterior motives. Miike slices and dices the genre
with an Americana-kabuki-baroque style: Buddhist temples sit alongside
saloons, samurai swords hang from gun belts, and sake flows with blood.
Dirty tricks, betrayal, desire and love collide as the situation erupts
into a final, explosive showdown. Sukiyaki goes on
record as
being Miike’s first English-language feature film, though
with a twist – the Japanese cast speak English, but an oddly
phonetic version of it. Miike adds his characteristic visual
bravado to the mix and casts director Quentin Tarantino – a
self-professed fan of spaghetti westerns – in a small role as
a gunslinger. Tighten your saddlebags, load your revolvers,
pack your chopsticks and join Miike for an outrageous wagon ride into
the wild, wild East. "Not too shabby."
Viewer’s
Guide: Strong violence, including a rape.
SCREENINGS - Friday at 9:20 p.m., Saturday at 2:40 and 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:40 and 5:00 p.m.
