Synopsis
Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) is Shunji Iwai's sprawling drama, and you can watch online on iFILM. It unfolds in a near-future Japan where immigrants have flooded in chasing the strong yen, crowding into a slum they nickname Yentown.
A motherless girl drifts into a band of outsiders and is given the name Ageha — Swallowtail — after the butterfly inked on her skin. A bar singer named Glico (played by the musician Chara) takes her under her wing, until a cassette hiding a coded song drags them into counterfeit cash, yakuza, and one shot at a way out. Iwai shoots Yentown in a churn of languages and grimy handheld light, sliding from gutter poverty to the neon of a rock stage without a seam.
The film turned cult partly through its music: the invented Yen Town Band scored a genuine chart hit with "Swallowtail Butterfly (Ai no Uta)." A young Tadanobu Asano and Hiroshi Mikami show up in the cast. It runs long and raw and earns its emotion. One for fans of '90s Asian arthouse and stories about strangers searching for a home. Stream Swallowtail Butterfly online on iFILM.
Starring
Recommendations
Comments 0