It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A very sweet film about sexual awakening. Many have commented that the romance blossoms too quickly, which for me completely misses the point. The reason the attractive builds into romance so fast is due to the feelings of nostalgia it raises in Flavia. One of the most honest and beautiful subjects of this film is to see selfish lust drift into actual love. For Flavia, love is at first an escape. It reminds her of when she felt young and wanted. For Yip, it's a chance to be with an older woman that will support her during the building of her music career. As the events unfold it doesn't leave the world unaffected. Flavia's marriage begins to crumble, and her husband is portrayed as sweet, but too reliant on her. We get a feeling that Flavia has been forced into this life against her will. The past is sent against a political backdrop that raises tensions. I watched this on Blu-Ray which just emphasized the stunning photography. A real quiet gem of a film, which hides enough of the relationship to make it an ambiguous study open for interpretation.

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!

A well crafted movie using various filtering, angles and editing methods to carry messages. The pacing is definitely not commercial and that is a strong feature in it this movie's favour. It wants you to think and it allows you the space to do it.The message of having to suppress but finally come to terms with one's inner self is explored from various angles in the character Flavia and also in her friend Jin. However, using the parallel vehicles of homosexuality and politics to do it is old hat and unoriginal. Some have suggested that in Hong Kong that comes across as daring but I don't buy that for a second in 2004-5. For me, the film gets away with it by the way it weaves them together with the various subplots, along with the different time tracks. This succeeds in making the themes come across as more original than they are.The film needed to be longer. The dual time tracks and the subplots create a need for about 5 more carefully chosen minutes to fill them out in a more satisfying and well rounded way.+++ minor spoilers below +++ I also don't agree that Flavia has a "bad" marriage unless one is going to claim that a very large proportion of Hong Kong marriages are bad. She could have been doing far, far worse! But ultimately for Flavia, it just wasn't really something that could make her deeply happy and satisfied.Some of the kissing and lovemaking was not realistic at all (there must have been some heavy discussions among the actresses and the director around that, those discussions would make for a great out-take) but the passion nonetheless believable.

I think this is a nice movie...A great one...This is the first homosexual HongKong movie I watched... A harmony homosexual movie, there isn't any visible nudity involved... The scenes will be mainly kissing scenes of actresses... I think that their kissing were great, when they were kissing, they don't give me the feeling that they were acting, I think that there is nothing to be criticized, without knowing the real characters of the 2 actresses, I would definitely think that they are the real couple in life...After I watch this movie, Tian Yuan really deserves the New Actress Award, she is a great actress in this movie... Passion, is what I can conclude from this movie. I would definitely recommend it to my friends...