I wasn’t at the screening for Sukiyaki Western Django but I sincerely wish I was having watched it at home and struggled through it with very little context. I absolutely loved the artificial, theatrical setting of the opening (complete with Tarantino cameo) and I almost half expected the rest of the film to be shot like the opening. What ensues is the most stereotypical western film anyone could hope for. A lone hero who must stand in the gap between two warring tribes, but the plot twist (which isn’t actually a plot twist) is the strong, Japanese, stylistic overtones that suddenly take the film into a strange hybrid genre all its own. I’ve read elsewhere that the film’s title can even be taken as a reference to the style, a sort of Japanese, stew-like thing.

This image says it all. Two revolvers, a conical hat, a mental amount of smoke and a black suit. Total, anachronistic disregard for accuracy or conventionalism, it’s all about effect and all about genre. Perfect start for the semester’s screenings.