AKA: Operetta Tanuki Goten; Raccoon Palace
Country and Year: Japan (2005)
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Jo Odagiri, Mikijiro Hira

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 4 out of 4 stars (great)

I love Seijun Suzuki. The man is in his eighties, and is still producing movies more fun, original and energetic than almost anybody working today. Princess Raccoon, his first (and wildly successful, emphasis on “wildly”) stab at a musical, is no exception. It left me with a huge grin on my face and the fervent hope that Suzuki lives to one hundred so he can keep working his magic.

The movie is a fairy tale come to life, about the forbidden love of a man and the Tanuki Princess. It is also a genre and influence blending musical, taking its cues from Chinese scroll-painting, Japanese Ukiyoe, ska, Broadway-style theatrical sets and rap, among others.

Tanukis, by the way, are a sort of raccoon-dog, famous in Japan for mischievous and shape-changing powers, similar to a fox. There are large and small statues of them all over Japan, and they are known both for being fun-loving, and for having large testicles. They really do look very similar to raccoons, as I learned when I got into an argument with a friend in Tokyo over whether a creature tethered outside a store was a tanuki or a raccoon. I was drunk, and she was right.

The powerful Lord Azuchi Momoyama (Mikijiro Hira) obsesses over his status as the best looking man in the world, until a Catholic sorceress under his sway warns him that soon his own son Amechiyo (Jo Odagiri) will surpass him. This is intolerable to Momoyama who immediately resolves to banish his son to a haunted and inhospitable mountain, the same one on which he had abandoned Amechiyo‘s mother to die years before. Momoyama’s loyal (and silly) ninja Ostrich sets out with the clueless Amechiyo, but their progress is interrupted when Ostrich is caught in a trap laid by locals to catch tanukis for stew. Apparently, the region is just lousy with tanukis, because Amechiyo shortly encounters the Tanuki Princess herself, played by the bewitching Zhang Ziyi. After hijinks at the Tanuki Palace, a sort of Never Never Land, Amechiyo and the Tanuki Princess fall in love. Afterwards they must confront Amechiyo’s father, the disapproval of just about everybody (except the Princess’s helpful maids), the Princess’s confidante Hagi who mistrusts humans, and quest for the legendary Golden Frog that can heal all wounds. Yes, that’s right, the Golden Frog.

Seijun Suzuki has directed one of his all-time greats here. It is the best thing he’s done in years, including Pistol Opera, which, while enjoyable, was still a weaker retread of his masterpiece, Branded to Kill. This movie could easily have been an absolute disaster, but instead it is charming and beautiful and fun. I never would have predicted that he had it in him to direct a musical, of all things, but after seeing it, it seems like a natural step. Princess Raccoon works on a Gilbert and Sullivan level, astonishing and entertaining its audience with musical shifts and colorful sets. From the traditional samurai rapping, to the chorus of adorable tanuki girls with tails, to the romantic tap-dancing, to the tanukis who play their stomachs like drums, everything just works. I noticed too at the end that one of my favorite Japanese groups, the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra had a hand in one of the numbers (check out World Famous, excellent album). While the movie does get a little slower and more serious towards the end, it is not enough to derail the film.

Of course, Suzuki is primarily known for his visuals, and he doesn’t disappoint. Everything is bright and colorful like in a children’s storybook, and the characters interact with an aggressively artificial set. In one virtuoso set piece, a boat with live actors works its way through a river and whirlpool integrated into a scroll painting. Moments like this are perfect examples of how Princess Raccoon is so jaw-droppingly beautiful.

The cast is quite good, although Jo Odagiri plays his role so straight as to pale in comparison with the craziness around him. Zhang Ziyi is attractive as usual, and I appreciate what a good sport she was by appearing in a movie this offbeat and bizarre. She performs her scenes primarily in Chinese, a directorial decision that Suzuki endearingly “explains” with a song and dance number about how tanukis must have their reasons for the things they do. The implicit comparison of Suzuki to a mischievous tanuki is perfect – I can’t think of a better description.

I won’t say much more than that. Princess Raccoon, like so many other Suzuki movies, is such a visceral experience that words really don’t do it justice. The reasons to see it are the colors, and the sets, and costumes, and faces, and the music, and the lights, and, most of all, the fun. Go see it, enjoy it, and join me in hoping that Suzuki has some more surprises up his sleeve still.

Recommended? Absolutely, for anyone looking for a good time. It’s a weird weird movie, but in a fun, happy way.

If you like this, you might like: Tokyo Drifter, Uzumaki, Happiness of the Katakuris, Phantom of the Paradise, Singing in the Rain

© David Austin

All images used come from Asian Cinema Drifter.