Take "Snow White," cross it with "Romeo and Juliet," set it in the kingdoms of feudal China, make it a musical spanning every style there is, and direct it through the haze of a peyote-laced fever dream. This just begins to describe the experience of watching "Princess Raccoon," [1] the latest film from 85-year-old cult director Seijun Suzuki. It may not be my favorite movie of SIFF 2006, but if I see anything more creative and memorable in the next three weeks I will be truly shocked.
The story begins with Azuchi Momoyama, the lord of a mystical mountaintop castle, banishing his son Amechiyo for threatening his standing as fairest of them all. Cast out onto a cold, faraway mountain, Amechiyo meets the princess of a race of half-raccoon shape-shifting creatures called the Tanukis (played by Zhang Ziyi), and they quickly fall in love. Alas, it is written that love between Tanukis and men cannot be. As the story plays out, the viewer is treated to tap dancing, rapping, "The Frog of Paradise," a human toilet, a rock-paper-scissors battle to the death, and palace guards using their expansive stomachs as tympanis.
Suzuki has cooked up a truly unique vision for "Princess Raccoon." The theatrical stage sets are colorful and beautiful, occasionally mixing in some well-conceived digital compositing. The songs and musical interludes are infectious and filled with exuberant energy. The problem lies in making sense of any of it, particularly early on when scenes jump between locales willy-nilly with what seems to be no rhyme or reason at all. After a while you start to get the hang of what belongs where, but even so it's a challenge to come to grips with the barrage of wackiness bombarding you from all angles.
The film also would have benefited from some trimming. Around the 90-minute mark I was feeling exhausted, and the conclusion drags on longer than necessary. Still, it's hard not to admire Suzuki for creating a work so completely his own. His love of life overflows from every frame, impressive considering he's 85 and was tied to an oxygen tank for much of the shooting.
Despite its faults I would rather watch "Princess Raccoon" 20 more times than sit through another "quirky" indie comedy or generic foreign yawnfest. This is the stuff that film festivals are made for, and considering that the film is currently without a U.S. distributor, this might be your last chance to experience it on the huge screen it deserves.
"Princess Raccoon" screens at Pacific Place on June 1 at 9:15 p.m. See the Seattle International Film Festival [2] website for more information.
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