Vain Christians, Tap-dancing Tanuki, and the Frog of Paradise

Seijun Suzuki’s latest film (his fifty-sixth) confirms that the octogenarian director is as much a visionary today as he was when he was making stylish gangster flicks for Nikkatsu back in the 50s and 60s. Princess Raccoon (Operetta Tanuki Goten) is a magnificent spectacle – a colorful, musical adaptation of a well-known folktale that is a reminder of why it is we love cinema in the first place, and the film that will be hard to beat as the most lively and entertaining of 2005. Shot almost entirely on a soundstage (complete with ink-painted backdrops), the film at times has a deliberate theatrical quality to it. Imagine the surreal D.I.Y. look of Richard Elfman’s Forbidden Zone combined with the aesthetics and imagery of Peter Greenaway’s Pillow Book (or even The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover) and you begin to get an idea of what the film looks like. With music ranging from Broadway-esque ballads, to hip-hop, to even a glam-rock anthem, not a minute goes by without Suzuki pulling another wondrous trick out of his hat. A variation on an old folktale, the story begins at the ominous Castle Grace, where Lord Azuchi Momoyama (Mikijiro Hira), along with a Catholic witch (Saori Yuki) and a handful of Italian noblemen, is asking his mirror mirror on the wall about the fairest of them all. When he learns that his son, Prince Amechiyo (Bright Future’s Jo Odagiri) shall be the most beautiful in the land, he banishes him from the kingdom. Winding up in the tanuki forest (an animal native to Asia that is part raccoon, part dog), he comes across their shape-shifting Princess (Zhang Ziyi), and, well, that’s all you need to know. (You’ll just have to see the film to learn about the Frog of Paradise.) Kudos to Zhang Ziyi for taking on a role far different (and far riskier) than anything she's done before, and whether she's tap-dancing with the Prince or raging while riding a cloud, she seems like she had great fun with all of it. She and Jo Odagiri have a certain Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddie innocent-like quality to them, and their duets are genuinely charming. Filmbrain isn’t entirely sure what Suzuki’s message is vis-à-vis religion, or indeed if there even is one at all. Explicit references and symbols of Christianity, Shintoism, and Buddhism appear throughout the film, and he draws sharp distinctions between them. Lord Momoyama’s castle, with its crosses, sparse, almost colorless décor, and oversized Renaissance nude canvas is very church-like – somber, serious, etc. In contrast is the tanuki palace – colorful and bright, with music, dancing, and partying during every waking moment Momoyama’s motivation (and subsequent undoing, as it always is in such tales) is his vanity, while the Prince and Princess have the healing power of love and the compassion of the Buddhist goddess Kwannon as their guide. (It is interesting to note that the Catholic witch worships not Christ, but rather the Virgin Mary. No male gods here, on either side.) Does Suzuki have an agenda, or is it merely coincidence? The playfulness of folk religion versus the stoical approach towards organized religion is striking, but it might be little more than a plot device. Princess Raccoon is a triumph for the 82 year-old director (who wrote the screenplay as well). It’s a Technicolor fairytale for cinema lovers that captures the magic of the musicals of yore, and with more imagination in a single minute than a hundred Hollywood blockbusters combined. Of all that’s been written about the film, Manohla Dargis’ entry from her Cannes Journal in the New York Times sums it up best: Seijun Suzuki's "Princess Raccoon" is mad, nuts, lysergic, wonderful, kitsch, genius, smutty, sexy, funny, funny, funny, Zhang Ziyi, Joe Odagiri, Kabuki, "Snow White," "The Wizard of Oz," "Romeo and Juliet," Noh, hip-hop, rock, Broadway, Disney, fuzzy-wuzzys, yakuza, swordsman, by the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea, the cherry blossoms are in bloom again. In other words: I had a blast. Filmbrain couldn’t agree more. At the moment there is no distributor for Princess Raccoon in the States, which is a real crime. Check out this page for some great links, including a wonderful seven-minute preview that features the tap-dancing sequence and infectious love-theme. Watch it and try to tell Filmbrain your heart didn't melt.