Flying Butterfly

Johnnie To shows Hong Kong how to do drama properly. If the Hong Kong film industry has one obvious weakness, it's that it is not very proficient in making good dramas (though that has changed a bit in the last decade or so). This probably explains why I was well impressed the first time I watched Flying Butterfly. Fifteen years later it's still a good film, but the cracks are starting to show.

Yan loses her boyfriend in a car accident, while they were having a lovers' spat on the road. She is riddled with guilt and has trouble picking up the pieces of her life. Yan is unable to build up new relationships, but then her dead boyfriend begins to appear in her dreams, helping her to deal with the trauma the accident left behind.

The drama is a little slow to start and the performances aren't quite strong enough. Better leads could've made the difference here, but they're just a little too poppy. The presentation is nice (but not exceptional), and the finale does hit home, but on the whole, I wasn't as impressed as the first time I watched this. It's still a good film though, and To shows he's capable of more than just good old genre cinema.