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Butterfly Man ผีเสื้อร้อนรัก
Year : 2003
Director : Kaprice Kea
Starring : Stuart Laing, Abigail Good, 'Mamee' Napakpapha Nakprasitte
Genre : Drama

Adam (Stuart Lain) is on holiday with his girlfriend in Bangkok. But after they break up on their very first night, Adam finds himself alone and wandering in an unfamiliar land. But when he meets the gorgeous local Em, he finds a new purpose in life. Of course, Adam finds a way to screw that up too, forcing him to grow up and find a way to win back Em's heart.

หลังจากแยกทางกับแฟนสาวระหว่างเดินทางท่องเที่ยว อดัม นักเดินทางชาวอังกฤษ ได้เดินทางมาถึงกรุงเทพ เขาเดินทางต่อไปในเกาะแห่งหนึ่งในอ่าวไทย อดัมได้พบกับผู้หญิงคนหนึ่งชื่อเอม บนเกาะนั้นโดยบังเอิญ แต่ยังไม่ทันพูดอะไรกันเธอก็หายไป อดัมพยายามตามหาผู้หญิงคนนั้น เขาได้พบกับเจ้าของบาร์แห่งหนึ่ง ที่ชักชวนอดัมเข้าร้านนวด ซึ่งเป็นที่ที่ทำให้อดัมได้พบกับเอมอีกครั้ง ความใกล้ชิดของทั้งคู่ก็พัฒนาจากการนวดและการได้พูดคุยกัน ทำให้เอมและอดัมตกหลุมรักกัน คืนนั้นอดัมได้ไปสังสรรค์ในบาร์ของโจอี้ และได้พบกับน้อย บาร์เกิร์ลที่เข้ามายั่วยวนเขา อดัมกลับไปกับเธอ และเพื่อนของเอมได้ไปเห็นเข้า แต่เอมก็ไม่แปลกใจที่ทราบข่าว เพราะคิดว่าอดัมก็คงเหมือนกับผู้ชายคนอื่นๆที่เดินทางมาเมืองไทยแล้วทำตัวเป็น Butterfly Man ที่คบกับหญิงคนหนึ่งแล้วไปคบกับอีกคนและอีกคน

อดัมโกหกเรื่องผู้หญิงอื่นกับเอม แต่เอมไม่ได้พูดอะไร คืนนั้นเอม/ไปหาอดัมที่บังกะโล คืนนั้นหลังจากเอมกลับไป รุ่งเช้าอดัมก็พบว่าเงินของเขาถูกขโมยไป อดัมกล่าวหาเอมจนเธอโกรธและขอจบความสัมพันธ์กับเขา โลกอันสวยงามของอดัมพังทะลายลง และอดัมก็ไม่มีเงินเหลืออยู่เลย จนต้องไปขอทำงานกับเจ้านายของโจอี้ชื่อ บิลล โดยอดัมต้องเอาของไปส่งที่อีกเกาะหนึ่ง ขณะที่อดัมไม่อยู่ ทั้งเอมและอดัมต่างคิดถึงกัน แต่ไม่นานอดัมก็รู้ว่าของที่เขานำส่งนั้นเกี่ยวข้องกับขบวนการปลอมพาสปอร์ต และการส่งคนไทยไปขายต่างประเทศ ซึ่งเอมมีส่วนเกี่ยวข้องในเรื่องนี้ด้วย อดัมจะทำอย่างไรที่จะช่วยเหลือเอมให้รอดพ้นจากขบวนการดังกล่าว

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Butterfly Man (2003) See www.butterflyman.co.uk/main.htm

PAL Region 2, Widescreen, Mostly English dialogue - can be watched without subtitles. Thai soundtrack and Thai/English subtitles also available. View Trailer (Windows Media Player)

When watching "Butterfly Man" you sometimes wonder if you are witnessing a cross between a home movie and a documentary. The Thai scenery, places, people and "experiences" seem very true-to-life.

Adam (Stuart Laing) arrives on holiday in Bangkok with his girlfriend Kate (Kirsty Mitchell). They have a row and split up on the first night. Adam goes "south" to a tropical island to enjoy a holiday by himself. Whilst playing beach volleyball Adam notices a beautiful Thai girl.

Adam meets a "friendly" expat called Joey (Francis Magee) who introduces Adam to traditional Thai Massage. Adam is surprised to find that the masseuse at Joey's massage shop is Em (Napakpapha Nakprasitte) the same beautiful Thai girl he saw earlier. The next day Em shows him round the island and soon Adam finds himself in love.

Adam is frustrated by Em's traditional attitude to sex and marriage and has a fling with a bargirl called Noi (Vasa Vatcharayon). Everyone, including Em, knows about this and hence the title of the film "Butterfly Man" - someone who flits from girl to girl.

Like many things in Thailand, nothing in this film is quite what it seems on the surface. It turns out that Noi is one with the "good heart" and that Joey is not such a good friend.

Falling is love on holiday with a Thai Girl is a familiar theme to many farang men. Adam's fall from grace and attempt to get back with Em is the heart of the story. I found it very absorbing, but was a little disturbed at finding Em's darker side. The ending, where Adam goes native seemed a little hard to believe. A good film.

Having read all the Hype about this film I really wanted to see it.

Having finally got hold of a copy, I wonder what all the fuss was about!

A classic case of the anticipation being better than the consumation.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Butterflyman. However good movie or not Napakpapha Nakprasitte is very beautiful and it is worth watching just for her.

This is the best pic I can find so far and it doesnt do her any justice....

Ally - if you havn't seen it - take a look at the the Windows Media Player trailer for Butterfly Man in my post above. It shows Napakpapha Nakprasitte in some of her best sequences from the film.

the problem with this movie is the main English actor Stuart Laing who is TERRIBLE. His acting is so wooden that at times it is cringe-worthy. Take for example the early scene when he has an argument with his Scottish girlfriend in a Kao San Road hotel and he starts to repeatedly clench his fist...uggh.

But as always the movie is great if you are missing Thailand! There are some nice shots of Samui and overall the film is quite enjoyable. I just wish the director had gotten some better farang actors!

I felt a bit uncomfortable watching this with the wife for some reason

Glances in my direction and accusations of 'Same you!' coming thick and fast when the guy hits the bars.I couldn't understand it properly as I got a version dubbed in Thai but I knew what was going on.

Taken from the the Official Butterflyman website.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Butterfly Man

1. Kaprice and Tom first met at Cannes in 1997 at a screening of Monk Dawson. Kaprice was about to take the trip which was to prove the inspiration for Butterfly Man, at the time he had no idea that Tom was half-Thai.

2. In the original draft, Kaprice wrote about the actual village at the end of film from imagination. When he returned to Thailand to look for the village, a young girl on the southern islands wrote her address on a scrap of paper in Thai. With this, Kaprice travelled 500 miles to find the village - the same scrap of paper was used by Adam to find Em’s village in the actual film. And the actual monk and villagers were cast in the film!

3. Tom and Kaprice even flew to Los Angeles to look for money and cast Gavan O’Herlihy (Bill Kincaid). Driving from the airport they passed a freshly-shot corpse only yards away from where they were to stay near Venice Beach. They called 911 from a nearby house and within minutes the Santa Monica Police Dept promptly arrived on the scene. It could have been a scene from a John Singleton movie!

4. Kaprice eventually had to move to Thailand to get the film made. When Tom arrived for pre-production he found Kaprice’s office/studio inhabited by local toddlers running riot. They helped load the film stock into the fridge!

5. To get the film passed by the Thai Film Board, the 90 page script had to be translated into Thai and then photocopied 40 times. 2 officials had to attend the shooting at all times. Some of them ended up helping to make props and appeared as extras in the film.

6. Kaprice spent two years looking for a Thai girl to play Em. He spotted Mamee on the Khao San Road, two days before leaving for the location. (Months later one candidate flew into a fit of anger cursing her bad judgement after seeing the rushes and realising that it was a proper film and not a sequel to Emmanuelle.)

7. The night one of the crew arrived in Samui, his room was broken into and his money stolen - just as it happens to Adam in the film. It wasn’t the last time that “life imitated art” on the production.

8. Kaprice didn’t have any hesitation in casting bar girls, local masseuses and Wit, a neighbour who is homeless and often sleeps on his doorstep. When Wit and his wife stayed at the hotel it was the first bed they had had for years. They ate the entire contents of the mini-bar, too shy to come to the restaurant.

9. Thailand had a powerful effect on the British crew. Apart from the appeals of the Samui nightlife various members didn’t leave until months after the film had wrapped.

10. Mamee Nakprasitte, who plays Em in the film, starred in the title role of Mae Bia, Thailand ten biggest grossing film in box office history, and became an overnight sensation. She is set to appear in Oliver Stone’s new production about Alexander the Great.

Number 11) It's a terrible film! Full of stereotypes, both Thai and English, with a ridiculous ending.

6/10. Poor acting from principals and a story that doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. On the plus side, nice scenary and a couple of (unintentional) 'laugh-out-loud' moments. OK entertainment.
Rich

just watched this film and it is great if like me and the wife you are missing thailand.

but what crap acting by some of the leading actors

the only good part was when they showed the faces of the children and then went to the adults working on the island.

but the ending when he is a thai fishing man - what the hell was the director thinking

Stuart Laing, was the worst in it but isn't he in that new english film set in spain in the 80's if so his acting has improved a lot.

I had the pleasure of editing this film,taking over from a Thai editor who couldn't spare the time to finish it.The film was handicapped by quite severe script censorship and the fact that it was made on a shoestring.I can't remember the figures now but it was amazing the film was made at all with the budget used.
Yes,like virtually all low budget independent films it has it's shortcomings.At the time I can remember arguing hard for an alternative ending (there were two or three possibilities with what was shot ).I also argued for the insertion of some kind of motivation for Stuart to head off down to Samui.I recall feeling that the film lurched into slightly different gear suddenly.I also remember arguing to try and emphasise what little action there was.For various perfectly valid reasons,the director argued against these things and we went with what he wanted.
With the lovely cinamatography that director of photography Mark Duffield gave us,it was particularly enjoyable doing the various 'montage' sequences (Bangkok,travelling down to the island,nightlife,full moon party ).Unfortunately I was a little underwhelmed by the final music that was composed to replace the temporary tracks that we worked picture to.Mamee was good,but little parts of everyones performances could have done with a bit of pepping up.
Whilst it doesn't take much effort to watch this and write it off,the production worked very hard for little or no financial reward,finally realising a vision that had been eight odd years in the making.Once again,I have to say that with such little budget I feel the guys should be congratulated on getting this project all the way to final release at all.
Regards,
Will.

quote:

Originally posted by Will in Bangkok:
Once again,I have to say that with such little budget I feel the guys should be congratulated on getting this project all the way to final release at all.

It would have been better if they hadn't, IMO.

OK, so you all worked hard and didn't have much money, but the film is still terrible. Working on a low budget is no excuse for making a bad film. There are plenty of excellent films made on a shoestring, Dark Star and El Mariachi spring to mind. Both of these films have their faults, the continuity in El Mariachi for example, but the viewer forgets the faults and enjoys the overall effect of the film. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Butterfly Man.

I think Nicks comments are a bit harsh. I enjoyed the movie but was not expecting the acting to be fantastic. The farangs did look a bit like they were recruited by putting up bits of paper in Khao San Road guesthouses though.

I cant believe the English bloke Adam has left his Issan Life to go and knock some bird up from Eastenders...