Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Takashi Miike (written by) &
Masa Nakamura (written by)

Release Date:

15 September 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Western

Tagline:

An epic tale of blood, lust and greed.

Plot:

A revolver-wielding stranger crosses paths with two warring clans who are both on the hunt for a hidden treasure in a remote western town. Knowing his services are valuable to either side, he offers himself to the clan who will offer up the largest share of the wealth. |

Plot Keywords:

Clan | Treasure | Coffin | Egg | Hanged Man

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Hideaki Itô	...	Gunman
Masanobu Andô	...	Yoichi
Kôichi Satô	...	Taira no Kiyomori
Kaori Momoi	...	Ruriko
Yûsuke Iseya	...	Minamoto no Yoshitsune
Renji Ishibashi	...	Village Mayor
Yoshino Kimura	...	Shizuka
Quentin Tarantino	...	Piringo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takaaki Ishibashi	...	Benkei
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Sheriff
Taigi Kobayashi
Toshiyuki Nishida
Shun Oguri	...	Akira
Masato Sakai	...	Taira no Shigemori
Hideaki Sato
Christian Storms
Yôji Tanaka
Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Writing credits
Takashi Miike		(written by) &
Masa Nakamura		(written by)

Produced by
Toshiaki Nakazawa	....	executive producer
Nobuyuki Tohya	....	producer
Masao Ôwaki	....	producer

Original Music by
Kôji Endô

Cinematography by
Toyomichi Kurita

Film Editing by
Yasushi Shimamura		(as Taiji Shimamura)

Production Design by
Takashi Sasaki

Art Direction by
Nao Sasaki

Costume Design by
Michiko Kitamura

Sound Department
Jun Nakamura	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Keigo Fukushima	....	assistant camera
Keiji Hashimoto	....	camera operator
Yukibumi Josha	....	assistant camera
Kimiyasu Kai	....	assistant camera
Yoshio Kitagawa	....	assistant camera
Akitoshi Minami	....	assistant camera
Mizuki Nishida	....	assistant camera
Rokuro Terada	....	camera operator
Masashi Yamauchi	....	first assistant camera
Kazuhiro Yoshikawa	....	assistant camera

Casting Department
Georgia Simon	....	adr voice casting

Other crew
Henry Hayashi	....	adr voice replacement
Hideo Kimura	....	adr voice replacement
Blake Kushi	....	adr voice replacement
Kazumi Nakamura	....	adr voice replacement
Masashi Odate	....	adr voice replacement
Christian Storms	....	assistant dialogue coach
Christian Storms	....	script translator
Nadia Venesse	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• A-Team
• Dentsu
• Geneon Entertainment
• Nagoya Broadcasting Network (NBN)
• Sedic International
• Shogakukan
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan)
• Sukiyaki Western Django Film Partners
• TV Asahi
• Toei Company
• Tokyu Recreation

Distributors

• Dynit (2013) (Italy) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Terminal Video (2013) (Italy) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• First Look International (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kino Bez Granits (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) (2007) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2008) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2007) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• Nordisk Film (2009) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Nordisk Film (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Nordisk Film (2009) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Odeon (2009) (Greece) (all media)
• Roadshow Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• Video Film Express (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• JINNI's Animation Studios
• OLM Digital
• OLM
• Viracocha

Other Companies

• Dewa Sanzan Temple  filming cooperation
• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• El Sun  filming cooperation
• Field-R Law Offices  legal counsel
• Gassan Visitor Center  filming cooperation
• Kodak Japan  film stock supplied by
• Liza Woody Lodge  filming cooperation
• Malin Post  title design
• Miyagi Prefecture  filming cooperation
• NAC Image Technology  camera equipment supplied by
• Nihon Shomei Co.  lighting equipment supplied by
• Nogizaka Lease  filming cooperation
• NovaStar Digital  sound post-production
• S Gear  lighting equipment supplied by
• Sapex Scripts  post-production services
• Sendai Miyagi Film Commission  
• Shonai Film Village Co.  location service
• Tokyo Laboratory Co. Ltd.  digital intermediate
• Yamagata Prefecture  filming cooperation
• Yamagata Toyopet  filming cooperation
• Yamako Resort  filming cooperation

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, including a rape

Runtime:

121 min | (None):98 min (international cut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Canada:18A | USA:R | Australia:R | Japan:PG-12 | UK:15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Finland:K-18 | Singapore:M18 | Denmark:15 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Tsuruoka City, Yamagata, Japan

Company:

A-Team

Trivia:

Quentin Tarantino's mechanical wheelchair has a duck hood ornament on one of the arms, the same hood ornament as on Stuntman Mike's car in Death Proof (2007), directed by Tarantino.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Right before the end-fight it starts to snow heavily for some reason, probably just for aesthetics. However, a thick blanket of snow covers everything except the chest filled with gold-nuggets. No snow seems to have fallen on the chest at all.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ringo:[shoots a snake out of the claws of a flying hawk and cuts egg out of it]
Cowboy:[draws his gun on Piringo and whistles appreciatively]
Boss:Piringo. Been looking for you. It's the end of the road for you.
Boss:[gong] What's that sound?
Ringo:That's the sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells.
Boss:What?
Ringo:You know, those Heike and Genji boys. On a distant island, these to clans split into the Reds and the Whites. Waged a war. Sort of like that, uh, War of the Roses, ya know? In England?
Boss:Who won? The Whites?
Ringo:This high noon battle was waged in Dannoura. Hear the Heike clan in red got themselves hog-tied by the Genji clan in white. Their story goes a little something like this.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Recommended Only For Those Who've Seen EVERYTHING

Imagine an American Western drowned in spaghetti sauce, chewed up and regurgitated by a Japanese. That's pretty much what happened here.

Sukiyaki Western Django takes place in an alternate universe where nineteenth-century Nevada is populated entirely by the Japanese and the only white man around is Quentin Tarantino!

This is colorful (figuratively and literally) and action packed with great production values but the whole thing's just too gimmicky and cute for it's own good. Like seemingly all Japanese movies these days, it's self-indulgent as hell. This tries hard to be a cult film by pandering to film nerds and fanboys, the most easily impressed people on the planet.

This wasn't thrilling or exciting and I never really connected to any of it's characters, probably due to the language problem. Having all the actors speak simplified English was a mistake. This would have been better dubbed or in Japanese with subtitles. Hell, I had to turn on the subtitles anyway!

What I would really like to have seen was director Takashi Miike attempt to make a real western with an American cast. It would probably be better than the ones Ang Lee attempted!

Go watch the REAL Django!