Sukiyaki Western Django (First Look Blu-ray +
DVD-Video)
Picture:
B+/B Sound: B+/B Extras: B Film:
B
Japanese
filmmaker Takashi Miike is often compared or even considered the Quentin
Tarantino of Eastern cinema, his films are often violent, brutal, artsy, and
yet critically acclaimed for their brilliant ability to craftily weave together
stories in some of the strong ways that Tarantino does here in America. There is little doubt that both filmmakers are
modern masters, but have U.S. audiences warmed up to Takashi just yet? His recently film Sukiyaki Western Django should certainly capture some attention and
rightfully so!
For
decades Japanese cinema has been a huge influence on Westerns, especially the
films of Akira Kurosawa as just about every film he made was translated into
some form of a Western, but here Miike makes his own Western, which
interestingly enough has Eastern influences instead, so he flips the situation
around and makes a highly stylized Western unlike any other. As expected the film is graphically violent,
but in ways that make sense. The story
involves a gunman who gets between two rival clans that exists over a hidden
treasure in a nearby town. The remainder
of the film is devoted to the gunman’s attempts to get the biggest reward from
whichever side is willing to pay him more for his professional gunman
services.
The film
has been released in both the DVD and Blu-ray format, the DVD comes in a really
nifty tin case, while the Blu-ray offers superior technical qualities. Both transfers are framed at 2.35 X 1, with
the Blu-ray being a 1080p High Definition transfer. As expected the Blu-ray offers superior
resolution, detail, and fidelity over the DVD, which is decent, but cannot
match the lush Blu-ray transfer. Colors
are warmer, depth is more consistent and softness is not really an issue,
although it should be noted that at times the film is made to look grainy,
which is part of the artistic styling of the film, not a defect in the
transfer. Much like Natural Born Killers (http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7214/Natural+Born+Killers)
on Blu-ray we noticed that since the film was shot in 8mm, 16mm and 35mm there
were different textures to the film to give it a certain look, the same is true
here with loads of interesting camera work to give the film it’s unique
palette.
The audio
is quite impressive on both, but the Blu-ray is the sure winner with an
entertaining Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 mix that surpasses the limited Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD. The film is
highly action-oriented and the presentation audio-wise is highly articulate
with loads of surround moments and the Dolby TrueHD is very engaging and feels
more natural.
Unfortunately
there are not a wealth of supplements here, most of the extras are
advertisements and not ‘true’ extras.
The Blu-ray features the digital copy, plus a brief making-of
featurette, deleted scenes, along with trailers and BD Live, which enables the
viewer to download material, which I attempted several times, but received an
error message each time. Digital Copy
and BD Live are exclusive to the Blu-ray disc only.
Hopefully
this film will open up most eyes to the filmmaking powers that are outside U.S.
borders, especially since this film is in English, despite being filmed with
Japanese actors under a Japanese director.
It’s obvious that this is a great attempt to get exposure to these
talents and with the cameo performance by Quentin Tarantino it’s great to see
that his endorsement exists as well here, which no doubt will help sell this
film! Despite a small supply of extras,
the DVD tin is a great little collector’s item and the technical features on
the Blu-ray make this a title to own!
- Nate Goss
