If we take a look at the last decades of the history of cinema Japanese, we will find some of the best and worst movies known by the humanity.
While there are amazing and world famous movies like HANA-BI of Takeshi Kitano or the many titles of Ghibli de Hayao Miyazaki, there are also many cheesy and poorly shot films that people only watch for the famous or attractive actors they have, making Japan's film spectrum possibly the widest in the world.
The movie that we are about to talk about today occupies a really special place because it was directed by the legendary Takashi Miike and it is nothing more and nothing less than Sukiyaki Western Django.
This film is special in many ways. First of all, it's directed by Miike so you know it's going to be a jewel. Second, it has arguably the most amazing cast to date in Japan, with legends Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, and Kaori Momoi being just the tip of the iceberg.
Third, Quentin Tarantino is in the movie, who is a huge fan of Miike.
Fourth, the story is really corny. And in fifth place it turns out that there are the samurai-cowboys who throw weapons. But if the above was not enough, it turns out that the film is spoken, entirely, in an extremely strange English but it has great merit because the Japanese cast learned all their lines in that language.
If the above doesn't instantly make you want to watch this legendary movie, something is definitely wrong.
The famous Quentin Tarantino has even said that working on this film was a dream come true, so much so that 5 years later he decided to direct Django Unchained.
The story itself, as its name suggests (Sukiyaki Western), is Takashi Miike's take on a spaghetti western.
The style of the film is clearly a Western film, but its plot incorporates many historical Japanese references., such as Genji and Heike, two important clans in the 1100s, while mixing modern Western themes such as gunslingers.
And what's even cooler is that this movie is not made to analyze history, but to enjoy, enjoy and have a great time.
While the plot is also interesting, Sukiyaki Western Django is more of a visual journey where you just dive in and accept what's happening in front of you.