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Poster for Swallowtail Butterfly

Swallowtail Butterfly

1996 · 148 min

A scrappy, hand-held drift through a makeshift immigrant underworld, by turns grimy and tender, carried by music and a lingering ache.

Directed by
Shunji Iwai
Genres
Drama, Crime, Music
Tagline
This is the story of Yentowns in Yentown.
Overview
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.

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Directed by
Shunji Iwai
Genres
Drama, Crime, Music
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • immigration
  • found family
  • identity
  • crime
  • survival
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
near-future
Audience
adult
Form
  • ensemble
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex strong
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror2
Humour3
Realism5
Romance3
Tension5
Darkness7
Complexity7
Emotional weight8

In this series

いわい しゅんじ Collection

  1. Love LetterMovie · 1995
  2. PicnicMovie · 1996
  3. Swallowtail ButterflyMovie · 1996 This title
  4. April StoryMovie · 1998
  5. All About Lily Chou-ChouMovie · 2001
  6. Rainbow SongMovie · 2006
  7. HalfwayMovie · 2009
  8. A Bride for Rip Van WinkleMovie · 2016
  9. FireworksMovie · 2017
  10. Last LetterMovie · 2018
  11. Last LetterMovie · 2020

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Cast

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Details

Genres
drama, crime, music, science fiction
Directed by
Shunji Iwai
Written by
Shunji Iwai
Starring
Ayumi Ito, Yosuke Eguchi, Chara, Hiroshi Mikami, Andy Hui Chi-On, Atsuro Watabe, Kaori Momoi, Tomoko Yamaguchi
Music
Takeshi Kobayashi
Cinematography
Noboru Shinoda
Runtime
148 min
Country
Japan
Languages
Japanese, Mandarin, English

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