Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish and Django is the common name of a drifter gunfighter in the Italian Spaghetti westerns of the 60’s and 70’s.  As the title implies, Japanese maverick director Takashi Miike (ICHI THE KILLER, AUDITION) takes the western genre and adds a Japanese twist to it. 

From the start with an eagle (or hawk) being shot down after swooping on a snake and the gunman swallowing the snake’s egg and then quoting verses (in heavy Japanese accented English) like “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that to flourish is to fall,” the audience knows that a vastly different film is to be expected.

The story concerns a drifter entering a town which where two gangs, the reds and the whites (the Minamotos and the Tairas) are wrestling for control.  Being an expert draw, the stranger (Ito Hideaki) draws the attention of both gang leaders who want him in their gang.  Instead, the hero (or anti-hero) befriends a girl who has crosses the line by marrying the enemy – a takeoff of the Romeo and Juliet story.  With that director Miike runs wild, paying homage to all the classic westerns (American and the Italian Sergio Leone’s) including over the top Sam Raimi’s THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (with shots seen through a bullet hole of a body) to Shakespeare (one leader demands being called Henry). 

One wonders the reasons for director Miike to spoof the genre after such a lengthy span of time.  One could be the influence of director Quentin Tarantino – who has a cameo as Ringo in the film.  Tarantino’s one scene with him freaking out at his meal must be the singularly funniest segment in a western ever.  Miike’s film is less disturbing than in his other movies (where the gore and violence were unbearable) with more humor added in.  One scene has a sword splitting a head in he middle – but the scene is done more as a joke.  If Miike’s comedic set-ups do not get you going, the dialogue spoken with the outrageous Japanese accents will.  And when you finally stop laughing, Tarantino appears doing his fake Japanese accent.

SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO shows Miike in playful mode with a film that is surprisingly more fun than most of his other films.  And the film has to be seen to be believed!