Swallowtail Butterfly

I'd seen the name Swallowtail Butterfly mentioned in quite a few places, always favourably. I either didn't know or couldn't remember the slightest thing about it, but decided to pick it up on an expensive whim.

Director Shunji Iwai has done a few movies that don't seem to get seen much in the west, but always draw praise when they do. I will certainly be looking out for his work in future, if Swallowtail Butterfly is a good representation of his talent.

Since I didn't know anything about the movie, and enjoyed it that way, I won't reveal too much. The main background to which the movie is set is the "Yentown". This is either the name that immigrant workers gave to the Japanese city to which they came looking for money, or the name given by the Japanese that rejected them to that class of people. It is also the name of the band that Shunji Iwai recruited for the movie, and the original name of the movie itself in Japan, just to make matters more confusing :)

At the start of the movie we see the corpse of a Chinese Yentown being handed over to the authorities. The other Yentown deny knowing her, and the 16 year old girl looking mournful particularly denies that she might have been her mother. This is untrue, but if nobody claims the body then the state will provide a funeral that her friends and relatives could not afford. The prospect of looking after the girl does not appeal to her mothers friends, so she is handed on from person to person until a prostitute called Glico finally takes pity on her.

The movie expands from this point in gradually widening circles, paced with a precision that would make King Hu proud. It's impossible to place the movie in one genre, but social-realism, coming of age drama, rockumentary and crime thriller all fit one part or another of the 2.5 hour running time. The whole movie is shot on hand-held cameras, sometimes in a dizzying documentary style, sometimes in a tense thriller style, sometimes in a gentle dream-like way. The use of filters and lighting, and a nice grainy film stock, all ensure that it looks wonderful throughout. The soundtrack is similarly wonderful from start to finish - both the orchestral background music of Takeshi Kobayashi and the flat out rock n' roll of The Yentown Band and their wonderful singer Chara (the new love of my life I think!).

The different tones of the movie that follow the shift in genre and the sometimes radical changes of scale that the narrative takes in are all blended skillfully, provoking a wide range of emotional responses. The performances are all excellent, and the characters very interesting and well defined.

In essence, this is basically a masterful film that shows extraodinary skill from Shunji Iwai as a director. Watching it is a reminder of just how far from the potential of the medium most movies fall. I look forward to following his career, wherever it might take him. It's such a shame that a movie that is such a work of art will probably be seen by a tiny audience in the USA, whilst brain-dead Hollywood "blockbusters" pack multiplexes in every town. I guess at least most people will never know what they're missing.

Simply Brilliant. One of my favorite films of all time. Incredible sociopolitical backdrop, incredible array of characters, incredible diversity of situations, styles, nuances. I love and adore this film from the gut to the heart to the mind. On every level it hits a nerve, and my only regret is that this hefty piece of work isn't longer still because the characters get so far under your skin and burrowed into your soul that when the credits roll you feel as though the vacation has come to an end and you're bidding your friends farewell.

I read through the comments on this film, and was not surprised to see that some people did not enjoy it. That, in my case, is always the sign of a truly great, immensely artistic film. I'm sure it bored some people to tears, confused others, and downright p***ed off a few.

I loved it. I enjoy foreign films, especially good asian films. I loved "In the Heat of the Sun" and "Made in Hong Kong", but this is probably my favorite out of all of them. It's close to the best thing I've ever seen. I like the style, I like the fact that it's in three languages, and I even like the fact that some in the cast were not speaking their first languages. I think that fit into the message of the film, which is that everyone there was in some way or another displaced. I think the idea of a movie about immigrants trying to fit in where they're not wanted is perfect. I think that the speech by the non-English speaking white guy who has never been to America was the summation of the whole film, and Glico's rendition of "My Way" was its heart. Absolutely beautiful, it encompassed so many different aspects of Japanese film-making, and put unique twists on all of them. Excellent movie. If you find it somewhere, watch it. If you're disappointed in the film, sell it on Ebay. If you post it enough times it'll be snapped up by somebody.

This is really an intense masterpiece. Not only its length of more than 2 1/2 hours, but the carefully developed characters and the twisting story qualify it for a top rank in movie-history. The story itself takes place in the outskirts of Tokyo where a lot of non-japanese people live, looking for the fast Buck (or Yen), for returning home rich. To tell more of the story would be unfair, but be assured it consists of violence, romance, hope and (best of all) the Japanese singer Chara performing "My Way". This is the kind of movie leaving you more than once with a big smile in your face and tears in your eyes, just because this moment is so...I don't know...joyful. Watch it!

Like many of you, I search the internet for unknown gems of cinema. I happened to pass by a thread on powerful films. I kept on seeing the same names: City of God, Carandiru, Pulp Fiction, Amores Perros, Saving Private Ryan and then I saw this. The person talked highly of it, I researched it a little more. Being a very big fan of Asian film I decided to find it cheap, which I did on eBay, and then buy it. One of the best buys I've had in a while. A few other good buys were DEAD MAN'S SHOES, THE DESCENT, BAD BOY BUBBY and A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS.

This story pretty much has it all. It has all the elements of a great drama. To name a few, it was funny(love how they spoke English), tragic, thoughtful, violent and memorable. I apologize but I'm not going to describe the movie to you, because it's slightly difficult to do. I can say that it's about people called Yentowns who live in a city named Yentown. Sounds simple, but the movie delivers on so many levels that it's anything but.

I hope you enjoy the film as much as me. If you enjoyed the movies I mentioned above, there are not many reason for you not to. It's not a perfect film, but it definitely gets the job done. It's really a fantastic film.