Butterfly Jam Review: Barry Keoghan Stars in Balagov's Unconventional Immigrant Drama
By
David Ehrlich
Hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked to perfection. Worth every minute at the bakery.
Summary
Kantemir Balagov's English-language debut 'Butterfly Jam' is a bizarre coming-of-age immigrant drama set in Newark, starring Barry Keoghan as a Circassian diner chef. The film features strange, unconventional moments (like characters rubbing spines to cure bacne) and refuses to conform to genre expectations, blending immigrant saga elements with surreal, shambling storytelling.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledMuch like his previous features 'Closeness' and 'Beanpole,' Kantemir Balagov's shambling but arrestingly strange 'Butterfly Jam' includes (at least) one moment that I'd never seen in a movie before.
two Newark teenagers rub their naked spines together in an effort to cure a bad case of bacne while a wild pelican watches them from the corner of the room
It's hardly the weirdest part of this sideways immigrant saga
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