Director Iwai Shunji’s (岩井 俊二) film Swallowtail will receive a nationwide theatrical release as a 4K remastered version from 4 September. In connection with the release, the director discussed the film’s structure, its survival strategy and the formula it shares with Love Letter.
Iwai Shunji’s (岩井 俊二) Swallowtail will receive a nationwide theatrical release as a 4K remastered version from 4 September to mark the 30th anniversary of its original release. Looking back on the period, the director expressed his gratitude that the film continues to find opportunities to be screened, while describing it as “the work that stands out most in my own filmography.”
The film’s narrative structure uses a methodology Iwai had studied since his student days, and he revealed that the same formula had also been used in Love Letter, released the previous year. Love Letter and Swallowtail have different themes, but both adopt an experimental structure that stands on its own through the same formula.
Set in the fictional city of Yen Town, the film depicts the dreams and desires of immigrants against a multilingual backdrop where English, Chinese and Japanese are spoken interchangeably. Yen Town reflects the strong-yen era of the time, with the historical setting explained as a period when US$1 was worth around ¥79. Even 30 years later, the director described the fact that the film continues to be screened as “something to be grateful for” and also discussed changes in Japan and the prevailing sensibility of the present day.