Rating: 4.5/5
Hooptober XII | 5/31 | Countries 3/6 | Hong Kong
Mr. Tsui presents a manuscript to the boss of Bar Bridge Paper Mill for publication. According to Tsui, these are eight pages of Scholar Fong’s unpublished memoirs. The boss takes a look, however, and determines they are forgeries. A worker comes to the boss’s office to ask the boss a question and finds the window open and the boss dead. The Tien Lung Clan’s White Flag Squad hunts down Tsui, finding him three days later. In the ensuing struggle, Tsui dies, and No. 3, the squad leader, retrieves the manuscript. The manuscript describes events that occurred eighteen years prior, in which two men digging for treasure in General Pingnam’s tomb in Butterfly Valley were swarmed and murdered by a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
The Tien Lung clan leader assembles the Red and White Flag squads, detailing a letter he received from Shum Castle’s leader asking for their help. They have discovered killer butterflies in their walls. The clan leader gives out orders and sends his right-hand man, Big-Eyed, to sneak into the castle and find out what happened. While traveling to Shum Castle, the clan leader encounters Green Shadow, who seems to know about Shum Castle and the Fong memoirs. So, she joins the clan leader, and they convene with the White Squad and enter Shum Castle. They find no signs of life, but they find Big-Eyed dead, his skin covered in lesions and, in his palm, a black butterfly.
Across the pond, they find a mute woman named Chee. Through context clues, however, Green Shadow finds a stairwell leading underground. There, they meet Master Shum and Scholar Fong. Master Shum invited all of them to tell them what happened at the castle. He tells the story of black butterflies overtaking the castle and killing many of its inhabitants. The clan leader hears the story, but cannot understand how someone like Big-Eyed could die so suddenly.
The film follows the crew as they investigate the situation. Are these truly butterfly attacks? Or is a more sinister plot afoot?
With The Butterfly Murders, Tsui Hark’s debut, he revitalized the HK exploitation film, blending wuxia with giallo elements. Though HK found the film too oblique, the West celebrated, with British critic Tony Rayns calling it a “Borgesian conundrum.” Borges is my favorite author, so hearing that amped my excitement to check this movie out. And the comparisons are apt! A manuscript that is possibly a forgery, stories within stories, and labyrinthine caves make the world feel unknowable and uncanny.
The blending of wuxia and giallo sounds odd in theory, but totally works here. The larger-than-life legends and fights have a wuxia feel, but the ridiculousness of butterfly murders screams giallo. Once we get into Shum Castle, the Gothic dread kicks up with talk of ghosts. Part of the blend’s success is due to the rapid cuts, creating unusual juxtopositions that never get the viewer a firm grounding, so that scenes can shift or change without warning. The score also brilliantly combines Eastern musical motifs with Giallo instrumentation. The horror-pizzicato strings during some of the fights are wild.
Michelle Yim, who plays Green Shadow, brings an enormous amount of charisma to the screen. She makes everyone look manic and hasty with her chill demeanor and swift moves.
This movie is brilliant! I was in awe throughout. It is unquestionably one of the most underrated gems I’ve seen. My Christmas wish is that a boutique shop like Vinegar Syndrome or Arrow pick this movie up.