Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

jmaruyama Yan Yan Mak's romantic Lesbian drama "Butterfly" may not be your standard or conventional love story but it is just as heartfelt, touching and sensual as any standard male-female Hollywood drama.The story revolves around the May-December romance between a married 30 year old school teacher, Flavia Wu (Josie Ho) and the free-spirited, 23 year old singer Yip (played by real life singer Tian Yuan of the HK indie group Hopscotch). Both woman have had rough relationships in the past - Flavia is still nursing a particularly bad breakup with a fellow high school classmate and social activist, Jin (who has since become a female Monk in Macau). Similarly, Yip has also gone through her share of failed romances, many of which ended with her lovers taking advantage of her (betraying her trust and stealing her money).While Flavia retreated to the life of an unassuming teacher at a local all-girl's high school and marrying/having a daughter with a man; Yip is happy just singing and living off of tips from her performances at a local tavern/club. Flavia is instantly drawn to Yip's carefree attitude and optimistic outlook on life which remind her so much of Jin. While nervous and scared of the consequences, she soon find herself in a steamy and torrid affair with the young singer. Their romance invigorates Flavia and brings her back in touch with the adventurous and passionate side of her that she thought she had lost. Their happiness is soon challenged when they are discovered by Flavia's husband Ming (Eric Kot) who refuses to divorce Flavia and forces her to choose between living happily with Yip or giving up custody of their daughter Ting-Ting.Yan Yan Mak's artful direction and style are reminiscent of MTV music video and have a very youthful and indie charm. "Butterfly" shifts frequently from past to present and seems to tell two stories (the story of Flavia and Jin's high school/college romance and Flavia's present day romance with Yip) but surprisingly Mak is able to integrate the two stories seamlessly and both stories help to move the story along in an interesting way.The beautiful Josie Ho (Naked Ambition, Exile) is great as the prim and proper Flavia who rediscovers her youth through her younger lover. It is a testament to Ho's talent that she doesn't play her role of Flavia in a stereotypical or contrived fashion and really plays her character in a controlled and calculated way that focuses on her conflicted emotions and the hard decisions she has to make. Tian Yuan is also very good as the happy-go-lucky Yip. She has a magnetic charm about her that is infectious. Tian Yuan and her group Hopscotch provide most of the soundtrack for this film and her singing is absolutely wonderful (she reminds me a lot of UK singer Corinne Bailey Rae).Special note should also go to the young actresses who portray the flashback versions of Flavia and Yip (Isabel Chan and Joman Chiang). They help carry half of the film and their romance is very sensual and poignant. You want to see them succeed but can't help but feel hurt when they don't. Like so many tragic movie romances, fate always seems to deal a cold and cruel hand.In some ways "Butterfly" is like a Lesbian version of Kevin Rodney Sullivan's adaptation of Terry McMillan's brilliant novel "How Stella Got Her Grove Back". As in that film, the theme of regaining one's youth and passion are clearly evident in "Butterfly". The tag-line for "Stella..." - Sometimes you have to break the rules to free your heart - seems to be just as applicable here, although in a much different way.Those expecting something along the lines of Otto Chan's 1991 CAT III Lesbian exploitation film "Pink Lady" (which also revolved around a taboo relationship between two women) may be disappointed that this film isn't as erotic or titillating but Mak is trying to tell a different story and her approach is just as successful and sensual.I was really surprised at how much I liked this film and I look forward to seeing more of Mak's work in the future. She is definitely one to watch!

l-chan "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)

flingebunt Almost every movie about gay or lesbian themes seem to have the same problem, they think they are saying something new and definitive about the topic, but really they repeating the same old trash.According the cover of the DVD, butterfly was a bit of a shock horror scandal movie in Hong Kong. However there is little new to be said here. Flavia is a respectable married school teacher with a child. But when she was a school student she had a lesbian relationship.She meets a girl in a supermarket who awakens her suppressed desires.Using some interesting camera techniques to portray different times and feelings this makes this served to annoy me more than enlighten me (I think it is a Hong Kong, the camera is used to enforce a feeling or moment).What happens in this movie is both beautifully told, but overly pedestrian. It could have been told in a much short way and really all that was being said was that if you are a lesbian you are a lesbian.Still it is nice movie that might be good to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Musashi Zatoichi The second feature from Hong Kong independent director Yan Yan Mak has been one of the most talked about films of 2004. A small-scale film that sits on the border of independent and commercial film-making, Butterfly premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2004 as the Opening Film for the International Critics' Week. It has since been invited to many film festivals around the world, including Stockholm, Pusan, Tokyo, Bangkok, India, Brazil and Australia. It also received two nominations at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards in 2004: Best Screenplay Adaptation for Mak and Best New Performer for Tian Yuan.Butterfly is adapted from Taiwanese author Chen Hsueh's short story "The Mark of the Butterfly". Starring Josie Ho, Eric Kot, Tian Yuan, Isabel Chan and Joman Chaing, it is about a woman's struggle to come to terms with her true self, the importance to break out from her cocoon and set herself free.Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, Flavia finds her lesbian passion reawakened after a chance encounter with a carefree and spirited singer / songwriter. A shattering new film form award-winning director Yan Yan Mak (Gege, 2001), Butterfly alternates between the past and the present, juxtaposing a romance to a rebellious human rights activist in 1989 with her current struggles as a wife and mother. Fronted by a brave and sympathetic...