The Western has probably some of the strangest stylistic and
artistically inbred origins of any narrative genre. Its genesis lies in the
classic samurai flicks of Akira Kurosawa like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. These
would in turn go on to get what are essentially American remakes with The
Magnificent Seven and the Three Dollars trilogy that gave Clint Eastwood his
most iconic role. Then Japan took inspiration from the sand-scorched cinema of
the Man With No Name to create seminal anime works like Cowboy Bebop and
Trigun.
Then stylistic film nerd
Quentin Tarantino took bits and pieces from those series, among many other
sources, to help create the Western samurai Kill Bill movies. It’s like a game
of tennis where successful volleys result in cinematic gold and not just
watching a ball go back and forth for hours without respite. As a result, the
breadth of places where people decide to make Westerns is hardly surprising;
hell, I looked at
a French existential Western earlier this year. So, as I
look at today’s film filmed in New Zealand by a Scottish filmmaker, I can
safely say that there are more geographically disconnected iterations out
there.
