Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django is not the first  Japanese western.   It is a feast for genre fetishists, a loving and lurid pastiche of the Spaghetti westerns that were themselves lurid pastiches of classic Hollywood cowboy pictures. The title of this western refers to the Japanese dish Sukiyaki , as well as Sergio Corbucci's Spaghetti western film Django. The film contains numerous references both to the historical Genpei war and to wars of the roses, as well as the films Yojimbo and Django. The story deals with a bitter rivalry between two vicious clans- the brutal Heike and the flashy Genji.  They have taken over a remote mountain village in a region oddly called "Nevada".  A mysterious gun fighter with no name (Ito Hideaki) rides into town and offers his services to the clan who offers to pay him the most. While both clans make interesting bids, the gun fighter rejects both offers and is instead swayed to hold off joining either faction by the town's salon madam , Ruriko. She tells the stranger of how  the town was taken over by the clans and how her son , Akira was killed by them. The film was made with a fairly high budget , and it shows. Both set and costume design are awesome. The town is a perfect fusion of the classical western town and medieval Japanese architecture,Buddhist temples alternating with the saloon, the sheriff's office and dilapidated stanles. Sukiyaki Western Django is a feast for the eye ; even the much criticized flashbacks , soaked in oversaturated yellow and  green tints , seem to work in its advantage.