Sukiyaki Western Django

Rebel filmmaker Takeshi Miike (Audition) turns his attention to spaghetti westerns in this outlandish salute to Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci (Django) and Akira Kurosawa. The premise is pretty much identical to The Seven Samurai and A Fistful of Dollars: A gunman with no name (Hideaki Ito) plays two rival gangs—red and white—against each other for his benefit. Adding to the cult factor is Quentin Tarantino as a gunman who relates the story. With its mostly Japanese cast speaking English phonetically, washed-out color scheme, mock Ennio Morricone score and non sequitur-filled dialog, this is not your father’s sagebrusher. It more easily fits into the world of weird westerns inhabited by Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man and 2004’s Renegade as well as Alex Cox’s eccentric historical saga Walker.

Shelf Talk: First Look is trying some inventive marketing by offering the title with three different covers as well as promising online attention and promotion. A limited theatrical release in August will help spark interest with the film’s target audience.