Swallowtail Butterfly

In an alternate near-future Japan, immigrants from many countries gather in a run-down district known as Yentown, hoping to earn money and build new lives. Among them is a teenage girl left with no family and no name after her mother dies. A sex worker called Glico takes her in and gives her the name Ageha, and she gradually settles among a small circle of friends, including a poor immigrant from Shanghai, a former American boxer and an enigmatic young man. A sudden chance to become wealthy draws these outsiders together, but the money brings trouble from people who were already pursuing it.

Shunji Iwai directed the film from his own screenplay, the third of the sixteen features he has directed and the entry between Love Letter and Picnic. Ayumi Ito plays Ageha, Chara plays Glico, and the cast also includes Yosuke Eguchi, Hiroshi Mikami, Andy Hui Chi-On and Atsuro Watabe, with twenty-five credited performers in all. It runs 148 minutes and mixes crime, drama, music and science fiction.

Audiences have responded well to the film over the years. It holds a rating of 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb, from roughly 4,900 votes, and the same score on TMDB, based on about 101 votes. The larger vote count on IMDb reflects a durable following for a Japanese film of its period, while the smaller TMDB figure comes from a narrower group of users.