Operetta tanuki goten / Princess Raccoon (2005)
Director: Seijun Suzuki. Screenplay: Yoshio Urasawa. Cast: Ziyi Zhang, Jô Odagiri, Hiroko Yakushimaru, Saori Yuki
One of my two favorite films of the AFI FEST 2005 — Caché / Hidden was the other one — took me completely by surprise. Seijun Suzuki's delightful musical fairy tale, Operetta tanuki goten / Princess Raccoon, consists of an eclectic mix of abstract and natural settings, catchy tunes ranging from mild rap to hot salsa, myriad plot twists and turns, special effects that are purposefully — and beautifully — simple (one such brings back from the dead veteran actress Hibari Misora), plus dialogue in a variety of languages. The result is a magical — if challenging — mélange perfectly appropriate to the wacky fairy tale played out on screen.
Ziyi Zhang is charming as the princess of the (English-language) title, a "demon," or spirit, who falls in love with a mortal, though it is Saori Yuki, as a cunning, rap-singing prophetess, who runs away with the film.
Reviewed at the AFI FEST 2005