PRINCESS RACCOON Asian New Classics

“No man should love a Tanuki. Even less should this enchanted forest creature ever love a man.” So begins the latest film from Seijun Suzuki. The 82-year-old veteran filmmaker serves up a highly stylized, musical fairytale about forbidden love between a human prince and a mythical shape-shifting creature.

Zhang Ziyi (HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) stars as Princess Tanuki-the mischievous, racoon-dog spirit. After assuming human form, Tanuki falls for Amechiyo’s vain father banishes the handsome prince to a distant mountain. Only the Frog of Paradise can potentially reverse the fortunes of these two star-crossed lovers.

Suzuki not only draws from traditional kabuki theatre and Japanese folklore, but also infuses his surreal operetta with tap and break dancing, as well as a variety of musical styles from frothy show tunes and melodramatic arias to whimsical hip-hop and rap has the feel of a Gilbert and Sullivan show, though other times it is decidedly kitschier-more like a Japanese XANADU or ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. PRINCESS RACCOON demonstrates an oddly appealing sense of cinematic freedom that never gets caught taking it too seriously.