Critic Reviews

Manages the rare feat of being both bleak and deeply rewarding.

Some delicately interwoven and unresolved subplots help make the young character's rite of passage wholly, disturbingly compelling.

A movie of unforced nobility and quiet pleasures, Butterfly works on all sorts of levels.

May be a bit sentimental for some, but I found its patient examination of how the forces of optimism can be overwhelmed by a wave of cruelty to be both moving and wise.

A powerful ending lends a strong emotional charge to this prettily filmed drama, but too much of the story is taken up with romantic clichés about the everyday challenges of childhood.

Has a saccharine quality but also offers a memorable performance by famed Spanish actor Fernando Fernan Gomez.

A beautiful, harrowing film of understated power and perception that affords Fernando Fernán Gómez, the Spanish cinema's great, weathered veteran, yet another of his unforgettable performances.

The movies' time-honored old-man-and-boy theme has rarely been used to such great advantage.

A savory cocktail with a bitter twist.

Diverges to become something quite powerfully unnerving and guilt-ridden.