thanks largely to the growing appeal of those notorious Nikkatsu releases. In 2001, he revisited the territory of Branded to Kill with the altogether more uncertain Pistol Opera. Now, with the 2005 Cannes Festival selection, Princess Raccoon, Suzuki is back on idiosyncratic form, delivering an energetic, inventive and ever-so-slightly insane mishmash of music, magic and madness.

'Man cannot fall in love with a raccoon,' we are told at the outset. 'Or vice versa. It is ridiculous and impossible. But since this is the 13th night, let me set a love trap, for a fruitless love affair.' The ensuing fable concerns the banishment of handsome young prince, Amechiyo (Joe Odagiri ), by his vain father, Azuchi Momoyama (Mikijiro Hira ), who has been told by a sorceress that his son'sbeauty will soon eclipse his own. Dispatched to the Sacred Mountain from which 'nobody can come out with his breath' (as Azuchi's wife has already discovered), Amechiyo meets and falls for the beautiful Princess Tanuki (Zhang Ziyi ), a raccoon spirit who takes him back to her mysterious palace. Singing, dancing, gaiety and weirdness ensue. Perhaps love can blossom between man and raccoon after all.

Paying homage to the Japanese 'Tanukigoten ' musicals of the Forties and Fifties while merrily plundering the campest elements of Western rock, Eastern rap and Busby Berkeley choreography, Suzuki throws cultural caution to the wind. One minute, the performers are grunting and gesticulating in the masked and face-painted traditions of noh and kabuki; the next, they are dancing to hot latino beats, stamping their