Josh Hartnett does samurai gangster weirdness in the trailer for Bunraku

When we first heard about Guy Moshe's action movie BUNRAKU a few years back, it was described as a stylistic cousin to SIN CITY and 300. And then star Josh Hartnett went a step further, comparing it to 400-year-old Japanese theater, papier mache, Alfred Hitchcock's ROPE and Michel Gondry.

Which obviously left us all rather confused but curious as to what exactly that might look like.

Now we finally have our first glimpse of the film (which seems like a spin on Seijun Suzuki's brilliant BRANDED TO KILL) and its cool cast in full-motion, and it's as odd and fascinating as those above descriptions implied.

The story: In a world where firearms have been outlawed, and hand-to-hand combat and swordplay have made a comeback, two drifters; a cowboy (Josh Hartnett), and a sword-less samurai (Gackt) wander into a town ruled by warlord Nicola (Ron Perlman) and his chief henchman Killer No. 2 (Kevin McKidd). Both have a score to settle, and are aided by a bartender (Woody Harrelson) with ties to Nicola's lover (Demi Moore).