Swallowtail Butterfly is the third Japanese film I’ve watched for my East Asian Cinema module. (The first being Rashomon, the second being Tampopo). I think of all the films I’ve seen now (around 10), this one was my favourite one so far, so I thought I’d review it here.
I am going to be writing an essay about the role of foreigners in this film. If you’re reading this and you are a student at Sheffield doing the same essay, don’t you even think of stealing these ideas! I’ll know!
The film was made in 1996 and was directed by Shunji Iwai, who also made All About Lily Chou-Chou and Love Letter (US: When I Close My Eyes) amongst other classics. He’s a pretty famous director in Japan, and his films usually do very well in Japan, both with critics and financially. Swallowtail Butterfly grossed 2 billion yen, which is a pretty significant amount.
The film starts off with a short narrative which I think sums the whole film up quite nicely, so I’ve posted it here;
“Once upon a time, when the yen was the most powerful force in the world, the city overflowed with immigrants, like a gold rush boom town. They came in search of yen, snatching up yen. And the immigrants called the city Yentown. But the Japanese hated that name. So they referred to those yen thieves as Yentowns. It’s a bit puzzling, but “Yentown” meant both the city and the outcasts. If they worked hard, earned a pocketful of yen, and returned home, they were rich men. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it was a paradise of yen, “Yentown”. And this is the story of Yentowns in Yentown.”
It should be noted this isn’t true but it does allow Iwai to create this amazing “Yentown” sub-culture, made up of immigrants who have come to Japan. This gives Iwai free reign to shape his creation in any way he wants, whilst still making clear and relevant links to the real state of Japan. He’s pretty ruthless, too. The majority of the Japanese in the film are either clumsy and dim-witted, or incredibly ruthless and effective businessmen who can’t wait to shank you for a quick Yen.
The film’s heroine, Ageha, is an orphaned girl of Chinese descent, who’s upbringing leaves her speaking only Japanese and English. She becomes part of a ragtag bunch of outcasts, all working together to make a living. Glico, another part of the team, becomes a famous singer and as a result has to “become as Japanese as you (her bosses) want!” Everyone here has no official identity – they are outcasts pushed aside by society, yet their deeply developed characters make them a lot more realistic and like-able than their Japanese counterparts.
This film is quite slow paced, but not boring, I promise. There’s plenty of action and some pretty brutal violence, some of which is intentionally over the top to give certain characters a more surprising or unrealistic edge, all the whilst being framed in the gritty realistic Yentown setting.
This film, then, is awesome. It really is. There’s not really a weak character to let the team down, the directing is excellent and the plot, with it’s underlying themes of homogeneity and the need to diversify, are well developed. If I had to make one small gripe, it would be that this film was created entirely on hand cams, and as a result the image quality is sometimes irritatingly poor. But I think in a way that adds to the ‘dirty’ Yentown image. You certantly find yourself siding with the underdogs, and whilst this isn’t a family film it does carry a heartwarming message.
Go see this film, and stick with it. It starts off pretty good, and believe me, it just gets better and better.
