Sukiyaki Western Django 2007

In a career as unpredictable and shape-shifting as Miike Takashi's, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese maverick tackled the Wild West (or East in this case). Made with his usual unmatched off-kilter energy, Sukiyaki Western Django is more inspired insanity from the director who refuses to slow down: a violent, orgasmically gonzo genre mash-up that screws around with Spaghetti Western conventions. While the title cribs from Sergio Corbucci's Django, the story is pure Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars territory, involving a nameless gunslinger (Ito Hideaki) who gets caught between two warring clans. Imagine El Topo remade by Suzuki Seijun, and you might have something like this East-meets-West, pop art-meets-psych, guns-and-swords fusion that Miike makes weirder by having his Japanese cast speak in phonetically delivered English with subtitles! The icing on the cake? A Tarantino cameo. — AY