'Sukiyaki Western Django' review

Rating: **** out of ****

This year marked my first experience at the Toronto International Film Festival. Granted, I have only lived in Toronto one year, but still, it was a big deal. Unfortunately, since I was busy, I could only attend one movie. I didn’t care which one it was. I managed to luck out, as my first movie would be director Takashi Miike’s first English language film, ‘Sukiyaki Western Django’. I really knew nothing about the film, except it was a Japanese western and that Quentin Tarantino had a role in it. What I ended up seeing was one of the most surreal films since, well, ‘Grindhouse’.

I was constantly reminded of ‘Kill Bill’ while watching ‘Django’. You can sense Tarantino’s influence, if in camaraderie alone. It reeks of that same joy of moviemaking that made ‘Kill Bill’ so wonderful. Moreover, Tarantino’s role isn’t a shameless cameo as many have suspected. He plays ‘Ringo’, a de facto narrator, lending a hand on back-story when needed. He opens the film on a set that literally seems out of a children’s show. At one point his character has aged terribly and bares an uncanny resemblance to the Emperor from the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy.

Two clans - the Red and the White - have been at war for centuries. Even though the war has wiped out both clans save for a few roaming bands, the fighting continues. Meanwhile, there is a rumor spreading of hidden treasure in a small town. Drawn by the rumors, both gangs have set up shop in said town to search. Of course, the war continues while in this town and townsfolk are wise and flee. One day a stranger arrives - a quick draw artist who prefers to shoot first and ask questions later. It is learned that the stranger is so skilled that whichever clan he chooses to side, they will inevitably win the war. In the true anti-hero way, our hero offers his services to whichever clan is prepared to pay him the largest share of the treasure, once found.

Beyond this, there isn’t much point in talking about story. This film’s all storytelling and no story. It is style over substance, yet the style is of such caliber that it becomes the art. Imagine a movie where one character is shooting at another and the opposing character is able to slash the bullets out of mid-air with his sword. Alternatively, another scene in which one character is such a good shot that he can fire bullets in the complete opposite direction of his enemy, and yet every round finds its target. So many amazing visuals occur that you seem to remember the film in moments as opposed to a story as a whole.

I’ve read that ‘Django’ finds Miike in his supposed ‘mainstream’ mode. While I’ll agree this film is more accessible than ‘Ichi The Killer’ or ‘Imprint’, I would not classify it as mainstream. ‘Mainstream’ tends to imply cliché or lack of imagination. While it is homage from beginning to end, there is nothing unoriginal here. Miike, like Tarantino, is a cinephile and knows just what ingredients to take from where and how to mix them. The film is violent, as most Miike films tend to be. However, the tone is a left turn from his normal affairs - ‘Audition’ for example. The violence is ironic, comedic and fashioned with grandeur that is part Frank Miller and part Bruce Lee. Like ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Natural Born Killers’ before it, ‘Sukiyaki Western Django’ is an exercise in style that transcends genre. It’s an amalgam of Kurosawa, Sergio Leone and the Wachowskis, to name a few. It’s the first film I’ve seen where the actors are speaking phonetic English and still have English subtitles.

After watching ‘Sukiyaki Western Django’, I was reminded of a quote from Roger Ebert on ‘Kill Bill Vol. 1’: “The movie is not about anything at all except the skill and humor of its making. It's kind of brilliant.”