A new force within the realms of Hong Kong independent cinema, female director Yan Yan Mak here has gathered up name talent and a little bit more budget compared to her debut Brother (aka GeGe) from 2001. Adapted from the short story "The Mark Of Butterfly" by Chen Xue, content that stands out is obviously that of lesbianism but as with Stanley Kwan's excellent Lan Yu, Yan Yan Mak isn't out to exploit the issue. No, Butterfly, a title that says a whole lot, is thankfully a woman's journey talking about breaking out of an locked cage of emotions and is a strong sophomore effort from Yan.

Although Charlie Lam's cinematography is often times carefully composed and attractive, Yan's film does look like an indie quite a bit with its handheld style and uninterrupted long takes but that technical aspect combined with the actor direction from Yan Yan Mak becomes a strong point of the film because there's nothing more enjoyable than watching good acting uninterrupted. With the reference made to Lan Yu, it's also appropriate to reference Shu Kei's overly politically correct A Queer's Story as that still stands as a poor example of a Hong Kong film dealing with homosexuality. Butterfly doesn't shy away from its subject matter, certainly pours on the eroticism (without any nudity I might add) but for all its feelings of being explicit, it's in fact a truth created here, leaning towards innocence and intimacy where we might see actors but ones doing the do realistically.

Yan's script does occupy itself mainly with a clearly told, but not overbearingly so, journey where Josie Ho's exceptional portrayal of Flavia, confused and soul searching becomes a highly compelling center piece of the film. I can't avoid using the word familiarity as this is one example where that pitfall into it never happens thanks to the written and acted delivery by Yan and Ho respectively. It's subtle enough to be challenging but it's not buried in arthouse sensibilities (other parts of the film are, more on that below). Flavia is driven by guilt and desire at the same time, in itself a great complexity the film deals with as well as the fact that consequences are unavoidable and it all will spark debate if you're so inclined. Debate surrounding prejudice, responsibility as a parent and towards those you're bound to.

The texture is absolutely fine and is added onto in an equally fantastic way by Eric Kot, far, far, far removed from his otherwise known comedic persona. Ming the husband it's impossible not to feel for as he becomes a victim and hurt even more as he untangles the web of lies himself. In many ways, it's easy to agree with him, at other times we ask him to not deal with the issue but to accept facts. There are hints at a fragile marriage anyway and also hints of an unspeakable, potential danger as Kot plays Ming extremely bottled up emotionally. While I adore Tian Yuan's award winning debut (and her band Hopscotch provides several atmospheric tracks from the "A Wishful Way" album released the year before) and she does have a mesmerizing presence, it's a damn unfair to see both Josie Ho and Eric Kot go unnoticed by the awards juries but when those ceremonies finally turns into fair occasions where justice is made, we won't have anything to complain about and where's the fun in that?

So Butterfly registers almost extremely favourably mostly but at 129 minutes, it's not that it's long but Yan Yan Mak clearly suffers from some pretentious traits that needs to be ejected quick. Featuring what looks like 16mm film footage at times for both logical but mostly un logical reasons, this viewer can't find a single arguably good reason to switch between the looks. As with an otherwise great indie film of recent years, The Runaway Pistol by Lam Wah-Chuen, it's all a rubbish and a lame tool 9 out of 10 times. Soi Cheang got away with it in Diamond Hill for some reason in my mind however. Another problem is the welcome but overly long flashback story of Flavia and Jin (Isabel Chan and Joman Chiang respectively) that probably could've been cut down by a few scenes and still gotten the point across.

Yan Yan Mak however emerges, just like Carol Lai did with her second feature The Floating Landscape as a director with attention to how to make accessible and challenging drama, now having genuine profiles of the industry at her disposal. Butterfly may have recycled elements but they're executed with a great big leap over the pit of familiarity and Yan delivers an affecting journey concerning lesbianism. It gets arousing at times but you'll rather by impressed by the depth of the performances, aided by a largely error free indie style of filmmaking.

The film follows a woman named Flavia (Josie Ho) who is a schoolteacher in her mid thirties. She's married and has a family now but when she was younger she had a very passionate lesbian affair with Jin (Stephanie Che). The more she thinks back on this ordeal, the more she realizes that her marriage is oppressing her and preventing her from really and truly being herself. One day while out grocery shopping, Flavia runs into a musician named Yip and old longings for Jin are reawakened.

Yan Yan Mak does a fine job of pacing the film by flashing back to the women's younger days and contrasting them to how they've grown up into adulthood. This gives an interesting look at the way that Flavia, who did truly love Jin when she was younger, denied her true feelings and yearnings and went the traditional route – get married, get a job, raise a family, etc.. When her old feelings re-imerge, she transforms like the butterfly of the title and comes out of her cocoon so to speak, lending the title it's significance. It is through the flashback scenes that we come to realize how destiny seems to be working on the two women from the very start, and how Flavia seems to have been, until recently at least, fighting that very same destiny.

Performances are very solid all around. Josie Ho (The Twins Effect) does a fine job in her role, playing it with just enough genuine confusion as to her real identity to be a legitimately sympathetic character. Her teenage counterpart does a fine job in the flashback scenes as well. Stephanie Che steals the show as Jin, lending some real life to he performance that raises the film up a notch or two. Both of the ladies are quite believable in their roles

The color scheme used in the film plays a big part in the success of the atmosphere that the filmmakers are able to create. Subtle tones of primary reds, greens and blues coat much of the picture and give it an unusual quality that perfectly fits the storyline.

The main flaw with the film is that at one hundred and twenty nine minutes it tends to feel overly long in a few parts. When it's on, it's on and it proves to be not only a fine dramatic movie but also an interesting character study (though often those two things do go hand in hand) but a couple of scenes in the middle part of the film drag just a little bit. It's a minor complain though, and Butterfly certainly gets a lot more right than it gets wrong...

..Butterfly isn't going to be for all tastes - it's a slow moving Asian lesbian drama and as such it will have a limited audience in North America. That being said, it is a very well made film with solid direction and two very good performances even if the story drags just a little bit.