Butterfly (2004)

Fresh and Exciting

Expected more

A Masterpiece!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

A well crafted movie using various filtering, angles and editing methods to carry messages. The pacing is definitely not commercial and that is a strong feature in it this movie's favour. It wants you to think and it allows you the space to do it.The message of having to suppress but finally come to terms with one's inner self is explored from various angles in the character Flavia and also in her friend Jin. However, using the parallel vehicles of homosexuality and politics to do it is old hat and unoriginal. Some have suggested that in Hong Kong that comes across as daring but I don't buy that for a second in 2004-5. For me, the film gets away with it by the way it weaves them together with the various subplots, along with the different time tracks. This succeeds in making the themes come across as more original than they are.The film needed to be longer. The dual time tracks and the subplots create a need for about 5 more carefully chosen minutes to fill them out in a more satisfying and well rounded way.+++ minor spoilers below +++ I also don't agree that Flavia has a "bad" marriage unless one is going to claim that a very large proportion of Hong Kong marriages are bad. She could have been doing far, far worse! But ultimately for Flavia, it just wasn't really something that could make her deeply happy and satisfied.Some of the kissing and lovemaking was not realistic at all (there must have been some heavy discussions among the actresses and the director around that, those discussions would make for a great out-take) but the passion nonetheless believable.

Although the plot is centered on the story of a married female teacher who struggles to come to terms with her sexuality, I believe the message of butterfly goes beyond this description. All the main characters in one way or another portray how we as individuals come to terms or deny or most inner self. I found particularly interesting the parallel between the person as an individual and the person as a social subject, and how the interaction between the two can be a conflictive one, specially if the traits that mark the self are not socially accepted or naturalized. In all, a beautiful moving film of contemporary struggle for self and social acceptance.

"butterfly" (wu die) didn't disappoint me even though it's a low budget movie directed by a new indie director what i love most about the movie is that it didn't question the 2 character's sexual orientation in any way, making lesbianism as something normal (instead of "abnormal" as many other Asian films have portrayed it to be) but then i think this movie would be better if it's shorter (it's 2 hours long) and if the characters weren't clothed during some love scenes (cause it appears artificial to me), and the kissing scenes by the 2 young actresses weren't quite convincing i also agreed that the 2 lesbian students subplot were detracting from the main plot..it just annoys me really overall, i think the best thing about this movie is that it got a positive ending that signifies the slow but positive gay movement in Asia and in Hong Kong (where this movie was shot)

It'll be a little difficult to express my every opinion on Butterfly.First of all, the youthful love and passion between Jin & Flavia is portrayed more than well; although I thought (young) Flavia isn't much of a character compared to (young) Jin. Jin on the other hand is interesting and deeper, although she too is a commonly seen character in life or in movies: the smart and angry high school girl. But it's not a cliché, it's reality. She has deep ideas about life, about the question of life and that's a fact. Most people do that, especially at that age. I really could relate to the scenes involving those two, cos I was there too, kind of.. Being that young and in love was very similar in my situation. I think this is actually important in a movie, cos empathy is one thing some movies are designed to give you, but most (of those who claim they can) usually can't be so close to life. This is something I like about Asian movies, I'm not a big fan of the slow story lines but I appreciate their sense of reality.About the story.. I believe it could've been told better. At times I felt like I was stuck in a movie that just won't go further. But this is independent cinema right? I can't and don't want to look for a Hollywood-type narrative. But I wish I could say it had a unique or at least not (mostly) boring way of narrative. But I can't, it's just too slow at times. I actually thought right before the end that it probably had been almost 3 hours since it started. The story wasn't new blood either, but it was good anyway. I don't need to discuss that.The acting was generally good enough. Stephanie Che was brilliant. The woman who played Rosa was the only one I thought wasn't as good as the rest. But I'm not a critic, I'm a supporter. Just commenting.. I believe people can/should do whatever they like no matter how discouraged they are by others. I think it was the late reactions she gave in her lines, I don't know.I gave the movie 5 out of 10, I could've given 6 though, considering it was in Chinese (subtitles are still obstacles against full comprehension) and for the sake of the scenes involving Jin & Flavia's love. Finally, it's nice and important to see homosexual visibility and issues in movies, that is really appreciated. This is pretty much what I think of Butterfly.ps: I forgot to mention another thing about the movie: the kissing scenes between women. my god were they awful.. they were too conservative or just dull.Salvo Daze