1996 · drama · crime · immigrant
Swallowtail Butterfly
Directed by Shunji Iwai2h 28m1996
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
Our read: Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) reads as a sombre, kinetic, inventive drama · crime · immigrant entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Sombre, kinetic, measured drama / crime, inventive in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- brisk
- intense
Watching Swallowtail Butterfly tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
More info & search links
How Swallowtail Butterfly feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want a dreamy, gritty immigrant fable in futuristic Tokyo with music and survival.”
Skip it tonight — You want short or simple stories without subtitles and harsh realities.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like Swallowtail Butterfly, with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →