Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
An epic tale of blood, lust and greed.
Tonight’s entry is an interesting one. All of my primary targets for tonight ended up having to get rescheduled, so I went instead to an older one that’s new for folks watching with me. Do you like westerns? Do you like Japanese feuding sides flicks? Did you ever think about how similar the two movies could be when that mysterious stranger comes rolling in? Get ready for something I’m sure a person out there will probably get a little bent out of shape about - tonight we watch Sukiyaki Western Django.
We have a big story here, made up of a bunch of little stories. The big story is the easiest - gold rush fever has lead this small town into trouble that continues to escalate as more groups show up to try and find the gold that is legend to be there. Then we start moving in - the two main factions at play, each just wanting the gold. Then you have the mysterious stranger - seemingly out to make a buck but perhaps he’s got ulterior motives we haven’t yet discovered. Then we have the townsfolk, torn up by the conflict and sometimes motivated by revenge or fear. It’s a bit of a classic western played out with a Japanese cast and some period gang wars all rolled into one - so watch your spurs, this powder keg is gonna kick off.
Actors do a good job - but I feel at least partially I should drop that with a disclaimer of how it might not feel like it’s great. It’s one of those movies where every ham drenched line of cheese I believe to be fully intentional. What that translates to is that people are nailing the level of desired acting - but at the same time it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make some of the line deliveries and stuff fell a bit over-Shatner if you catch my drift. It’s a goofy movie that doesn’t take itself totally seriously, but at the same time does have plenty of serious parts to it, and some slight moments of that gets to shine through from the actors - but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’ll knock your socks of as much as tickle your funny bone.
The characters are what you’d expect out of them as well - with the exception of our split personality sheriff that ends up feeling more like Gollum in a western outfit. We’ve got a “strongest warrior” type character whose all about the way of the warrior and being fashionable, then we’ve got the dumber boss whose determined but goofily weak in comparison. Our mysterious stranger whose arrived for the money but might have more heart than anyone in the gangs has skill, and of course the townsfolk who by this point pretty much seem well over it (all about three folk who are left anyways). It gives a wide range, and you’ll probably finding yourself liking a character or two way more than the others if you can get past scratching your head at other parts of the movie.
Sheriff Gollum
I watch a lot of stuff - we know this by now. I’ve got over 600 hundred of said things on this site alone, and that’s just thing’s I feel obligated to do a write up for from the weekly movie night. To me, this movie wasn’t hard to follow - I would find it harder for people to stomach then follow on my thought pad, because folks are a lot more sensitive these days so things like stilted dialogue horrible accents tend to light people anti-monster torches real easy. I’d like to counterpoint that it’s all directed by Takashi Miike - so we honestly shouldn’t be hearing people complain about percieved stereotyping (but I’m sure we would anyways). That guy also has quite the list of movies under his belt, and those movies aren’t one to shy away from being provocative. So yeah, maybe you’ll end up scratching your head a little over the english dialogue, or somehow find yourself get caught off guard by some things you don’t feel are entirely on the level - but most the plot is simple enough that even though you might get hung up on details like “who is that guy supposed to be” when he enters the movie super late, it shouldn’t be that hard to follow the main story that’s playing out.
Story might give you a little bout of confusion when it hops around a little between past and present or pulls a line completely out of the 4th wall, but if nothing else you’ll always have a little something to look at. Set design evokes both a western and a bit of a Japanese location, and colors can feel a bit out of hand sometimes for whatever reason. Costumes are both fancy and somehow uniform, mixing a blend of western bullets and side irons and that more Japanese period ex-samurai gang members design. Then of course we have our mysterious stranger whose straight western with his duster and cowboy hat, and an appearance from Tarantino complete with John Wayne style poncho and everything. We get some pretty guys and some pretty ladies, and a whole bunch of props from dynamite to crank-operated gatling guns. There is plenty to look at - although yeah there is a good few moments of chatter and building, much like you would find in some of the western’s (or any movie really) so it isn’t all non-stop action.
Audio works well. Things were slightly quiet on my end, but that’s less the movies fault and more just an issue that my computer sometimes runs into when watching stuff on Amazon Prime’s service. Balance seemed fine regardless, and the subtitles did a pretty accurate job of reflecting exactly what was said (probably for the worse for folks who get real uptight about proper grammar). The action is good, and we get a at least a handful of various sized gunfights. For the more thoughtful person, there’s a bunch you can pull out of this. I’m not really the thoughtful person when I’m watching movies, but even at a super face level you’ve got the whole class warfare and how you deal with trauma angles. You’ve got a bit of a Romeo and Juliet thing going on in there, and a whole part on revenge. There’s a bunch and someone more interested or well equipped to look for it than me could probably have a real good time with that side of it.
A town at war.
The movie is certainly if nothing else an interesting idea. Yeah, I don’t feel like it’s gonna be one for everyone, as I’m sure some folks won’t be able to overlook some of the rougher edges. That said, I’d say its a nice blend of things and it’s not a horrible watch if you pay attention and expect just a little bit of goofy or weird while doing so. The costumes are good, some of the ideas are great and could have probably done a bit better if they had a bit more time or oomph put to them, but I know for sure I’ve seen worse and don’t feel any worse having watched it for the second time tonight either. If the trailer talks to you, you should probably check it out.