An Irishman, an Englishman and an American come into a diner… That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, and in a certain sense it is: after all, “Butterfly Jam” is about the Circassian community in New Jersey, but it’s about the Irishman Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”), the Englishman Harry Melling (known as Harry Potter’s cousin Dudley Dursley) and Elvis Presley’s eldest granddaughter Riley Keough (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) the North Caucasian origin of their roles does not matter. And a lot of other things in Kantemir Balagov’s first film since his emigration from Russia seem out of place.
With his second feature film “Beanpole”, Balagov, who was born in Nalchik, Circassia, won the directing award from the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2019. This ensured that he attracted the attention of the global film community. And in fact: When he left his home for California in 2022 in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, he was initially intended to direct the pilot episode of the later mega-hit series “The Last Of Us”. Only when he had already arrived on set in Canada was the agreement dissolved due to the famous “creative differences”.
Zalya (Riley Keough) needs all the help she can get in her Circassian diner, but Azik (Barry Keoghan) keeps getting distracted by his crazy ideas.
Instead of zombies, a story about the second and third generations of Circassian immigrants in the forecourt of New York. 16-year-old Pythe (Talha Akdogan) is well on his way to winning a law scholarship as a wrestler. But his father really doesn’t make it easy for him: Azik (Barry Keoghan) is a loser with a heart of gold. Although he works as a cook at his pregnant older sister Zalya’s (Riley Keough) diner, he spends most of his time finding absurd income opportunities with his best friend Marat (Harry Melling).
The two are currently trying to get an old cotton candy machine working again. The eponymous homemade jam is also made from “butterflies,” as Azik always says. However, Pythe is increasingly annoyed by his father, whom he finds to be “too weak” – another reason why he is so involved in wrestling. But then a catastrophe occurs, and even his girlfriend Alika (Jaliyah Richards) and a pelican hidden in the garage cannot console Pythe from the shocks…
At least as tasty as pizza
Azik’s absolute specialty is thin, pan-baked dough flatbreads, which are traditionally filled with a mixture of fresh cheese and potatoes. In Germany they are called Velens or Delens or Dalyns or Dalyash or Haliva – in other words: they are so typically Circassian that there is not even a proper Germanized name, but only various attempts at phonetic translations. Apart from that, “Butterfly Jam” seems disappointingly interchangeable – even apart from the inappropriate cast:
Scenes like the one in which Azik drags his son to a sex worker for his first time seem as if Balagov had taken them straight from one of the countless American indie films made about the Italian communities in the USA in the eighties and nineties. That’s absolutely likeable, especially since Barry Keoghan brings his unpredictable, manic energy back into the film. But we have seen something similar very often (and better).
After “Pillion” last year, the former “Harry Potter” villain Harry Melling is now developing into a real indie darling!
“Butterfly Jam” opens with a foreshadowing scene in which we learn that Pythe has just lost his father. But when the event occurs, it turns out VERY differently and much more blatantly than anyone in the cinema would have expected. You definitely slide forward in your seat because “Butterfly Jam” suddenly develops a completely different intensity. But Kantemir Balagov doesn’t seem to really trust his own shock effect:
Like the giraffe strutting past the window in “Michael”, which provides a little comedic relief in particularly intense argument scenes between Joe and Michael Jackson, here it is the pelican who makes everything much more bearable with his mere presence. And then there’s the big, prominent, albeit speechless, cameo appearance, which unfortunately isn’t much of a surprise anymore because it’s already spoiled in the cast list in the opening credits (originally, “Butterfly Jam” was even supposed to be called “Monica”).
Conclusion: “Butterfly Jam” begins as a solid family tragicomedy, which, however, seems unspecific not only because the main roles are played by actors from all over the world with no actual connection to Circassian culture. After an unexpected shocking scene two thirds of the way through, the film could have taken on a completely different tone, but with the help of a scene-stealing pelican it quickly returns to more easily digestible feel-good waters.
We saw “Butterfly Jam” at the Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere in The Directors’ Fortnight section.