telophase: (Gin grins again)
telophase ([personal profile] telophase) wrote2009-03-16 09:43 am
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Watched Sukiyaki Western Django with [livejournal.com profile] myrialux Saturday night. Lush, gorgeous costumes and art direction. Plot - nothing you haven't seen before. Attitude: hipster. Basically a remake of Yojimbo crossed with spaghetti Westerns like Django, set in an AU where the Japanese have settled the American West. At least that's how *I* explain why it's set in Nevada and the two warring gangs are the Heike and the Genji. :) It was shot in English, and several of the minor characters' actors have that "I have learned my lines phonetically!" thing happening, but the major actors are much more fluent, and your ear gets used to it very quickly.

It was also about 20 minutes too long. Oh well. But I loved the mixture of Western and Japanese elements, and the inversion of the Mysterious Foreign Sensei being Western (well, Quentin Tarantino, in a minor role). (We're not discussing the gender roles, however. :/) And the visuals are gorgeous. I am tempted to pick up the DVD for that. I wouldn't sit and watch the whole movie again, but I'd be willing to dip in here and there

Anyone who's seen it and knows something about Japanese literature/theatre - Tarantino's lines in the opening: are they from something? They had that feel, although I admit I was only paying half attention as I was also making kanzashi at the time. (ETA: Opening paragraph from the Tale of the Heike, thanks, [livejournal.com profile] keelieinblack!)

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 03:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! Horror depends on the movie in question - splatterpunk and serial killers aren't really my thing, but suspenseful horror and things that draw on traditional folklore or ghosts, etc. I like more.

[identity profile] puppleball.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 03:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I've some stuff for you. I'll set it aside and send it on Sunday. Do you have a region free player? I don't have too much stuff that requires it (and I don't remember what does/doesn't off the top of my head).

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 03:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't have a region-free player, but I shall confer with Toby and see What Can Be Done vis-a-vis ripping or whatnot.

[identity profile] puppleball.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
A quick look through shows that stuff I'm sending doesn't require it. I think I may have 2 or 3 dvd's that do, but they aren't in the first batch of movies. One of the movies I'd send is the original shutter. Have you seen it?

[identity profile] telophase.livejournal.com 2009-03-16 03:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool, thanks. :) Nope, haven't seen it. Had it on my Netflix list for a while, I think.