(Movie Review)If nothing else, an interesting and ambitious film, even if it doesn't completely succeed.
This film is a Japanese spoof of the spaghetti Western "Django". And in doing so, the film makers have sought to coin a new term, the "Sukiyaki Western".
...This is not the first Japanese Western movie. In my local video store there are several older films featuring Japanese cowboys. I haven't gotten around to renting them yet, but they're discussed briefly by this reviewer here. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only recent Japanese Western, however.
This is the kind of cheesy homage movie that Quentin Tarantino would love and, in an act of international casting, he's actually got a bit part in this movie.
The film retells the Japanese story of the battle between the Minamoto and Taira clans as if it had been a Western. And on top of this mixing of genres, one further level is added. All the characters in the movie are aware of the similarity of their story and the British War of the Roses, and comment on it frequently. The leader of one clan even forces his men to act out scenes from Shakespeare's "Henry VI" and halfway through the movie changes his name to Henry.
To add to the Cowboy Western feel of this movie, someone made a decision to shoot the whole film in English. So all the Japanese actors are speaking English the whole time. Some of them better than others.
Movies like "Memoirs of a Geisha" among others show that with the proper training it is possible for foreign movie stars to converse in perfect English. But the mystery speech coach who worked wonders in "Memoirs of a Geisha" is sorely lacking in this film. As a result it can at times be difficult to understand what is actually being said through the thick Japanese accents. According to wikipedia, the American release of this movie added subtitles to support the Japanese cast's English, but the DVD in my rental store only had Japanese subtitles.
...In the end I could understand almost everything, although I did have to do a lot of rewinding to try and re-listen. And I occasionally used the Japanese subtitles as support to understand the English. It did take away somewhat from the enjoyment of the movie in that it wasn't so much relaxing as it was a struggle to understand. But that's what things are usually like whenever I rent a Japanese movie.
The humor in this movie (and it is primarily a satire) is so-so. Much of it decidedly low brow. And the movie feels a bit too smug for its own good. Many actors say the art to doing comedy is to pretend your character is taking the scene seriously, and let the audience find the humor for themselves. This movie takes a different approach. Much of the humor seems to be based off the fact that it's an all Japanese cast slurring their way through American Cowboy slang and talking about Shakespeare. Which is kind of funny. But not 2 hours funny.
Another large part of the humor is based on people dying in funny ways. Or having funny expressions on their faces and making funny twitches when they die. This kind of humor pops up in a lot of Japanese new wave modern films, but I can't say I've ever been a huge fan.
I'm told that it is hard to fully appreciate this film without a thorough knowledge of the Spaghetti Westerns it is satirizing. And since I've never seen the original Django, it is more than possible that a lot of these references did go over my head.
I did catch some of the other pop culture references. For instance when the new gun man is trying to decide which clan to join, someone shouts out to him not to get any ideas about Yojimbo.
When Tarantino is telling why he named his son "Akira", he answers, "What can I say? At the end I am just an Anime Otaku". Not very subtle. If there is an art to metareferencing within films, this isn't it.
Link of the Day
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Sukiyaki Western: Django: Movie Review (Scripted)
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