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Screened at Golden Shadows on 22 April
2001:
Butterfly and Sword was released in 1993 at the height of the boom in Cantonese martial arts films. It was loosely based on a popular 1970s Shaw Bros. movie, Killer Clans. Butterfly and Sword was an "A" list production starring two of Hong Kong's hottest young actors, Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and directed by the multi-award winning Michael Mak (To Be Number One, Sex and Zen). As with the original, the remake is set in the mystical world of martial arts, where warring clans struggle for surpremacy of this realm. Sister Ko (Michelle Yeoh) is a renown martial artist who works as a spy for the duplicitous ennuch Tsao. Ko's mission is to find a top secret document which details an impending palace coup. Ko and fellow agent, Sing (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), devise a strategy to find this letter, which begins with Sing's very public death and is followed by his not so public resurrection. (only in HK films!!!) Butterfly (played by Taiwanese star Joey Wang) is Sing's lover who knows nothing of his double life. A young Donnie Yen appears as a loyal swordsman who holds a life long flame for Ko. The enemy clans gather to plan an attack on Sister Ko's stronghold in the Happy Forest. The film's action content is choreographed by Ching Siu-Tung (Duel to the Death, A Chinese Ghost Story), whose deft touch creates a near perfect blend of the visually fantastic and the bloody. Watch incredulously as the "evil claw" battles the "human bow". On more earthly concerns, we see the main characters mostly having feet of clay when it comes to affairs of the heart. In one of the movie's best scenes, director Mak (possibly still in Sex and Zen mode) gives us a steamy hot tub sequence with a naked Yeoh and a heart broken Yen. As stated, the Taiwanese version of Butterfly and Sword is "uncut", and for the first time an audience will see the original ending to this picture. Any one who had seen this film previously would have rightly felt cheated by the movie's abrupt conclusion. Feel cheated no more ............... and enjoy the film! - JOHN SNADDEN
An exceptionally strong cast
coupled with over-the-top adventure sequences make this essential HK
viewing. With its glossy sheen and first
rate cast, Buttery & Sword rates as one of the best examples of
the genre. |
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