PRINCESS FROM THE MOON

Japan, 1987, 121 minutes, Colour.
Toshiro Mifune.
Directed by Kon Ichikawa.

Princess From the Moon is a delightfully beautiful Japanese fable based on a traditional 8th century tale of parents who lose their daughter but find a little girl who grows up a beautiful princess. But she is from the moon and has to return. There are suitors, dangerous feats, warriors, village folk, all imaginatively and colourfully presented. The climax owes a lot to Steven Spielberg, a close encounter, Japanese style. There is a dreadful modern end credits song in English from Peter Cetera. But this is a pleasing folklore story with a message about death and immortality. It was directed by veteran director Kon Ichikawa

1. Traditional Japanese storytelling, international appeal? The use of an ancient fable?

2. The fairytale, the characters and episodes, a fable about death and immortality? The introductory explanation, the ending?

3. The 8th century village, forest, court? Costumes and decor? Special effects for the dragon, the ship, the spaceship? Musical score? The appropriateness of the final song and its lyrics?

4. The village, the prince riding through, crushed, rescued? The countryside? The visit to the family, the house and its setting?

5. The parents and their grief, their way of life, the death of their daughter, her grave? The light and the shuddering of the house? The shock the spaceship? The shell? The baby in the shell, lost in the forest? Growing so quickly? The fire, the amazement of the husband, finding the baby, watching her grow? The wife and thinking her daughter had come back to life? Their secret?

6. The change in the way of life for the parents, the shell and its gold, the friend and their selling the gold for more money, the changing lifestyle, wealth? Joy? The character of the mother, the father?

7. The princess and her growing up so quickly, blood, her eyes, her beauty? The suitors (and the echoes of the merchant of Venice)? The, interrogation, their true love? The truth? the feats that they were invited to? The suitor and his going on his mission? The princess and the water, swooning, recovering? The knowledge about herself? Her having to leave? The farewell? The ascension into the spaceship? The princess as a symbol, the transcendent character, the alien, a symbol of the soul?

8. The prince and his authority? The priests? ordinary people? The control of the people? The military?

9. The suitors, their background, their offerings, the quest?

10. The councillor and his suit, sailing, the clash with the dragon, coming ashore, the assassins, his fight? The return? The ball and the princess, the information about her return to the moon? Getting the ball back and diving underwater? The farewell?

11. The close encounter, the spaceship, the lights, the echoes of the military attack?

12. The moral of the fable about death and life, immortality, love? fairytale? Japanese appeal, cinema techniques, special effects?