23° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL

Operetta Tanukigoten

Princess Raccoon

Year: 2004

Duration: 111

One day Prince Azuchimomoyama, lord of the castle of Grace, as usual asks who is the most handsome of the realm, and thus learns that his son Amechiyo will surpass his father in good looks. Without hesitation, he abandons his son and the boy's mother on the Sacred Mountain. Princess Raccoon, a magical creature of the forest who loves to disguise herself, sees the sleeping boy and falls in love with him. But in order to live happily ever after, the two young people will have to overcome many obstacles.

"The basic idea is that of love blooming after the lovers die. Both the man and the woman are dead. Then they come back to life and kiss for the first time. That's a bit different from the love stories we've had till now." (Suzuki S.)

FILM DIRECTOR

Biography

film director

Seijun Suzuki

Suzuki Seijun (Tokyo, Japan, 1923) studied cinema at the Academy of Kamakura and began working as assistant director. He debuted in 1956 and became famous for his innovative and parodical "yakuza" films. After Branded to Kill (1967) he was thrown out of the production house he was working for, Nikkatsu, and began directing films again only in 1977, even if he made his grand return to cinema with Zigeunerweisen (1980), which bears witness to exceptional artistic talent in Japanese cinema. In 1991 he won in Berlin with Yumeji (1991) and his film Pistol Opera participated in Venice in 2001.

FILMOGRAFIA

Ore ni Kaketa Yatsura (High- Teen Yakuza, 1962), Yaju no seishun (Youth of the Beast, 1963), Hana to doto (The Flower and the Angry Waves, 1964), Shunpu den (Story of a Prostitute, 1965), Tôkyô nagaremono (Deriva a Tokyo, 1966), Kenka erejii (Elogia della Lotta, 1966), Koroshi no rakuin (La farfalla sul mirino, 1967), Hishu monogatari (Tale of Sorrow and Sadness, 1977), Ana no kiba (The Fang in the Hole, 1979), Tsigoineruwaizen (Zigeunerweisen, 1980), Kageroza (Heat-Haze Theater, 1981), Kapone oi ni naku (Capone Cries a Lot, 1985), Yumeji (1991), Kekkon (1993), Pisutoru opera (Pistol Opera, 2001), Operetta tanukigoten (Princess Raccon, 2005).