Movies

Princess Raccoon (Operetta Tanuki Goten) - 2005

Zhang Ziyi plays a raccoon spirit princess in this musical love-story by Japanese director Seijun Suzuki. Her character, Tanuki-hime, falls in love with Amechiyo (Joe Odagiri), a prince who has been banished from his father's castle. Director Suzuki says: "Imagine blending elements of architecture, art and traditional performing arts like Kabuki and Noh... with opera, ballet, and rock'n'roll! Operetta Tanuki Goten tells a compelling story about the triumphant nature of self-determination, beauty, and love." Adding to the uniqueness, the sets of the film resemble those of a play on stage.

For her role, Ziyi took two weeks of singing and dancing lessons in Japan. While her speaking part is in Chinese, she will sing in both Chinese and Japanese. Princess Raccoon was premiered as the closing film of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in Japan on May 28, 2005.


Resources

Press Guide - Story, critical praise, cast and crew profiles
BBC Film Focus - Video report from the BBC
US DVD - with English subtitles
Japanese DVD - Released in Japan on October 21, no english subtitles.
Soundtrack - Samples from the complete soundtrack.
Official Site - In Japanese.



Articles

Aint It Cool News review - Veteran director Seijun Suzuki's new film Princess Raccoon is the most jaw-droppingly insane, hilarious, sweet, beautiful and tuneful film I've seen in many moons. It is a crowning work for the aging, ailing auteur, a valedictory, joyous lap around a century of Japanese cinema and Eastern and Western music. This is no old man's movie. This is the work of a man dementedly drunk on the beauty of movies and myth. I. Loved. This. Movie. And if you have a heart in your chest and an inner child that hasn't been suffocated by decades of cynicism, you will love it too

Filmbrain Review - 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... 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.

Interview with Seijun Suzuki - "The songs are an important element. How was Zhang Ziyi's singing of the Japanese lyrics?" Suzuki: "That was a problem (laughs). At first I wondered what I could do. She was singing by rote memorization, without understanding the meaning. There was no way she could really get the feeling of the lyrics. But with practice she ended up being pretty good. I was relieved (laughs)."

NY Times Short Review - 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.

Letter From Cannes - Simultaneously exhilarating and enervating, Seijun Suzuki's hallucinatory operetta "Princess Raccoon," screening out of competition, was the perfect film to end the festival... "Princess Raccoon" came as a jolt of sheer spectacle late Friday morning. Playing the titular royalty, Chinese superstar Zhang Ziyi dazzles as an otherworldly vision.

Zhang Ziyi stars in "Operetta Tanuki Goten" - Zhang Ziyi said, "This film is, for me, a new type which is different from what I've ever done." About the Japanese dialogue which she spoke in film, "I had to do rote memorization. Since a mistake in one word meant none of it could be understood, it was serious." Director Seijun Suzuki said, "She is a global actress and has a good intuition. I have no complaint at all." he extolled her.



Videos

Seven minute preview This begins with some cute tapdancing and ends with powerful dramatic scene where Ziyi's character, Tanuki-hime, is in anguished mourning. 15 MB rm
Japanese Trailers The singing is in Japanese, but her spoken lines are in Chinese. The two trailers are quite different, the second is longer and a bit more interesting. Second Trailer - WMV stream First Trailer - 1 MB rm
Interview with Zhang Ziyi A three minute interview she gave during the Cannes Film Festival. It is in Mandarin with English translation 5 MB wmv
Press Conference A two minute clip from the March 29th press conference in Tokyo. WMV stream
Short Dance Scene A short video with a song and dance scene (the talking in the background is actor Joe Odagiri answering a question) 1 MB wmv

 

Audio Clips

A few songs from the soundtrack. In the first two tracks Ziyi sings by herself, the third is a duet with Joe Odagiri.

Chan - 1 MB
Oujisama - 1 MB
Two - 2 MB
Joe - 1 MB

Pictures

Pictures from the March 29th press conference are on this seperate page. A few samples are below

 

back to Filmography

 

Back to top