Head to Head: Asian Western Trailer Shootout

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 1, 2008

Asian Western Trailer Shootout

Western movies (as in horses, guns, and whores… not just white folks speaking English, blowing shit up, and/or having relationship issues) are a peculiarly American film genre.  There’s no good reason for that as far as I can tell other than the fact that we seem to have dominated it early.  But surely other countries have periods in their history where good dudes and bad dudes settled disputes with six-shooters, where trains were more likely to be robbed than to arrive on-time, and where real men rode both their horses and their women bareback.  The Italians made a string of pasta westerns, Clint Eastwood’s being the most well known, but even they took place in America’s wild west… Australia has The Proposition and Quigley Down Under… and that’s all I can think of.  I’ve got to be missing some other international westerns, so if you know of some feel free to share in the comments below.

Asian filmmakers appear to have noticed this glaring omission in their native cinema as well.  Two upcoming films, one from Japan and one from South Korea, look to rectify that by being unabashed westerns filled with all the genre trappings mentioned above… but with an Asian style and sensibility all their own.  Check out the trailers below and let us know what you think.

Takashi Miike’s Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django is Miike’s first English language film, and aside from the excretable acting of Quentin Tarantino, this looks to be pretty cool.  Miike (pronounced ‘MEE-KAY’, as Cole Abaius is happy to tell you without a hint of pompous-assity) can be wildly uneven with his films. From the highs of Ichi the Killer, Visitor Q, and Happiness of the Katakuris to the abysmal lows of MPD Psycho and The Great Yokai War.

Ji-woon Kim’s The Good The Bad and The Weird

 

The Good The Bad and The Weird is Kim’s fifth film, and so far he’s proved quite adept at several genres.  He’s mastered the quirky family black comedy with The Quiet Family (remade into Miike’s incredible Happiness of the Katakuris), gangster action with A Bittersweet Life, and creepy horror with A Tale of Two Sisters… so why not a western?

Which of these two Asian westerns are you more excited to see? Give us your vote in the comment area below…


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  • David
    Why does everthing Quentin touches lately turn to a turd??
  • I like Sukiyaki because it looks slightly more traditional Western in terms of weaponry, where as The Good..., has more modern things like motorcycles and semi-automatic weapons. But The Good..., will probably be better because it doesnt have Tarantino in it.
  • Tarantino is a slave at best. he needs to stick to his own movies.
  • Kim's by FAAAAAAR. I love some Miike.... but EVERYTHING Kim touches is gold. A Bittersweet Life is one of the best revenge gangster flicks i've ever seen, so so well done and A Tale Of Two Sisters is the most beautiful, eerie, and probably my favorite horror film of all time
  • Both look pretty good. But probably not the first time that the Japanese have put their stamp on the Western genre. "Trigun" comes to mind, as does "Cowboy Bebop" (space environment notwithstanding.)
  • eno_erif
    Actually, from the 1960's to the present day, no Asian nation shoots more oaters than the Republic of the Philippines. I'm serious. Ferdinand Marcos loved Westerns and during his era at least 2 domestically produced cowboy films premiered every month. Most of them like all Filipino movies of that era are shoddy-looking but action-packed with reasonably good stunts, cheesy fight choreography, and corny "bang-bang-arggh!-ya-got-me" shootouts. The oddest thing about this subgenre was that stories were clearly taking place in the P.I., but the characters would wear Stetsons and chaps. The King of the P.I. Cowboys was Jess Lapid, Sr. His definitive P.I. oater was Cuadro de Jack (1968).
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