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Swallowtail Butterfly

Play trailer Swallowtail Butterfly 1996,  2h 26m,  Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist - - 2 Reviews Tomatometer 89% 1,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 2 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
In a futuristic metropolis, young Ageha (Ayumi Ito) loses her mother, and Glico (Chara), an infamous prostitute, takes the girl under her wing and helps her survive in the city. Ageha takes a job at a salvage yard with the unscrupulous Feihong (Hiroshi Mikami), whose counterfeiting operation provides him with enough money to open a nightclub. But when a group of gangsters learns about this plan, they violently demand a cut of the action, and threaten the lives of Ageha, Glico and Feihong.

Critics Reviews

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Mark Schilling Japan Times Sep 8, 2026
4/5
Come to “Swallowtail Butterfly” for Iwai’s untethered imagination and entrancing artistry, leave a fervent Chara fan. Go to Full Review
Panos Kotzathanasis HanCinema Jul 26, 2020
Swallowtail Butterfly is a beautiful film that suffers much from its extended duration and the fact that Iwai tried to include many more elements than he actually could. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Leia M Mar 16, 2017 2.5/5 I am not sure what it was all supposed to mean, but it was interesting.
Harry L Mar 16, 2017 "Once upon a time, when the yen was the most powerful force in the world, the city overflowed with immigrants, like a gold rush boom town. They came in search of yen, snatching up yen. And the immigrants called the city Yentown. But the Japanese hated that name. So they referred to those yen thieves as Yentowns. It's a bit puzzling, but "Yentown" meant both the city and the outcasts. If they worked hard, earned a pocketful of yen, and returned home, they were rich men. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it was a paradise of yen, "Yentown". And this is the story of Yentowns in Yentown." - Suwaroteiru, opening See more
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Swallowtail Butterfly

My Rating

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Cast & Crew

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Shunji Iwai

Director

Hiroshi Mikami

Feihong

Chara

Glico

Ayumi Ito

Ageha

Yosuke Eguchi

Ryou Ryanki

Andy Hui Chi-On

Maofuu

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Swallowtail Butterfly

Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In a futuristic metropolis, young Ageha (Ayumi Ito) loses her mother, and Glico (Chara), an infamous prostitute, takes the girl under her wing and helps her survive in the city. Ageha takes a job at a salvage yard with the unscrupulous Feihong (Hiroshi Mikami), whose counterfeiting operation provides him with enough money to open a nightclub. But when a group of gangsters learns about this plan, they violently demand a cut of the action, and threaten the lives of Ageha, Glico and Feihong.
Director
Shunji Iwai
Producer
Shinya Kawai
Screenwriter
Shunji Iwai
Production Co
Fuji Television Network Inc.
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Japanese
Runtime
2h 26m
Sound Mix
Surround
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