If you want to talk about a director who knows how to work extremes, you should go no further than Japan's Takashi Miike, who one year after giving us the strange, stark, quiet murder mystery Big Bang Love, Juvenile A returns with this loud, funny, over-the-top take on the American cowboy western. The film centres on the fight for a town, rumored to have a buried treasure, and pits the "whites" and "reds" against each other in true War of the Roses' fashion (the association here to Henry VI will be apparent when you see this movie). A drifter in true Clint Eastwood style arrives in town to save the poor townsfolk from these two marauding groups of samurai and set to right the various injustices meted out during their battle for the town. This is all done in a style I can only best describe as Moulin Rouge crossed with Kill Bill crossed with Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is highly stylized complete with great costumes, much silliness in a Japanese game show way, nods to some of the classic cliches of westerns young and old, and even has Quentin Tarantino playing a key character. What else could you ask for?! If you're after a western of a much different ilk with a marvelous blend of east meets west, saddle on up to this fabled tale.
My rating 9 out of 10.
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