The Butterfly Tattoo

Good. Very good!
**Contains Spoilers** Review taken from 'BookWitch' blog
The witch rarely gets to go to premieres of any kind, so the UK premiere of The Butterfly Tattoo made a welcome change. It was on last night at Cornerhouse in Manchester, as part of a short film festival, and whereas it wasn't full, it was very busy. They moved the screening to cinema one, which I assume was to accommodate more people.

The film? It was good. Very good. I'd heard it was very good, and then I read a review somewhere which claimed it wasn't, particularly. So we went with open minds, and Daughter was warned that it wouldn't end happily. The script follows Philip Pullman's book pretty closely, so you do get the bad end at the beginning, so to speak.

It's Romeo and Juliet, really. Some very intense love when boy meets girl, and then lots of confusion as they lose touch. Lots of searching, to a backdrop of someone else's criminal behaviour, which eventually comes to have a bearing on the...

Romeo & Juliet, but with a POV twist...
An updated twist on the old R&J tale. Two young lovers in Oxford tell our story through plenty of long takes, close-ups, young angst, missed coincidences, and unfortunate circumstance.

What sets this one apart (a bit) is the twist of watching a sub-plot told three different ways, culminating in the last tragic act suffered upon the two leads. No spoilers here as the first scene shows the ending, so we know what is going to happen. The young actors and supporting cast are believable, the 102 minutes are long, the film gets the yellow lens treatment, the sound is 2.0 - but above all the makers managed to convey a believable tragedy.

The extras have some nicely included bloopers, a few thankfully deleted scenes, and an extended version of the dance club scene; sort of goes with all of the music in this film. If you are looking for an action packed romance tale - not it. If you are looking for the short love story version - not it. Just a simple love story gone...

The only reality - a nailgun.
What is appealing about this movie?
(1.) A contemporary adaptation of Romeo & Juliet doesn't take much imagination. Is simply having love and tragedy in the same hour the measure of success?
(2.) But to do so in a very slow and mundane teen love story that was so trite, humdrum and unreal that one thinks, "Where was this writer and this director raised - in a cave?" Family, youth and youth conflict scenes were as real as a '70s sitcom with acting skills just as real.
(3.) The two star highlights were the frequent slow panning close-ups of an industrial nailgun. Duh!
(4.) Absurd robbery, coverup and revenge sequences that seemed as artificial as a plastic grocery bag.

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