movies
‘Butterfly Jam’ Review: Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough in Immigrant Drama
Kantemir Balagov showed talent in his 2017 debut, Closeness, about a kidnapping in a North Caucasus town, then delivered fully on that promise with his stunning second feature, Beanpole, about two traumatized women in post-WWII Leningrad. Both those films centered on women whose grim worlds were closing in on them — a tomboyish auto mechanic in Closeness; a nurse and the frontline friend who turns on her in Beanpole. The Russian director’s first film in English, by contrast, is testosterone-driven, a father-son story in which the constricting codes of masculinity lead to senseless loss.
The milieu of a small swathe of New Jersey with a close-knit Circassian community is drawn in sketchy fashion. Balagov originally intended to make the film in his hometown of Nalchik in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. But after publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he self-exiled in 2022 to Los Angeles.
Butterfly Jam
The Bottom Line
An awkward collision of masculinity and vulnerability, awkwardly told.
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Directors’ Fortnight)
Cast: Barry Keoghan, Tahla Akdogan, Riley Keough, Harry Melling, Jaliyah Richards
Director: Kantemir Balagov
Screenwriters: Marina Stepnova, Kantemir Balagov
1 hour 42 minutes
That might partly explain why the characters here, while not lacking in dimension, seem to exist in isolation. The texture that should have been provided by a broader view of the community and by interactions with Americans outside the family’s immediate circle is missing. That said, the actors kept me engaged, and the visuals are intoxicating thanks to gifted DP Jomo Fray, who brought such vitality and bruising intimacy to Nickel Boys.
Azik (Barry Keoghan) immigrated to the U.S. as a youth, along with his older sister Zalya (Riley Keough), with whom he runs what his American-born son Temir (Tahla Akdogan) in an angry clash calls a “shithole diner.” Azik serves as the chef, taking great pride in his delens (Circassian potato and cheese pies), which he and others tout as the best in the world. But the business is failing, forcing Azik to consider going after a chef’s position at a high-end restaurant being opened in Newark by an ex-lawyer acquaintance.
In truth, Azik’s hopes and dreams are pinned largely on 16-year-old Temir, nicknamed Pyteh, whom he talks up to his card-game buddies as “my beautiful son … future Olympic champion.” Pyteh has shown skill on the high school wrestling team, winning one trophy and next going after the state championship. Shy first flickers of romance spark up between him and Alika (Jaliyah Richards), another wrestler, whose progress is held back by a skin condition that makes her too embarrassed to strip down to practice gear.
Despite being at an advanced stage of pregnancy, Zalya works tirelessly to keep the diner in order, shouldering responsibilities in ways for which her brother just seems unequipped. Or too lazy. She chafes at Azik bringing his deadbeat friends in to mess the place up.
The worst of them is Marat (Harry Melling, playing the direct opposite of his Pillion character), an abrasive, scrappy prankster who reveals himself to be a complete dick from his first moments onscreen. His cockamamie scheme to boost revenues by installing a broken-down cotton candy machine in the diner makes more symbolic sense than a bizarre subplot involving the theft of a pelican whose rare appearance in the area made local news.
The screenplay, co-written by Balagov with Marina Stepnova, fails to give satisfying development to any of these strands and sorely under-uses the movie’s most interesting character, Zalya. Keough is terrific in the role, weary and impatient from having to exceed big-sister responsibilities from an early age. Despite having too little to do, Keough gives the movie’s standout performance, which perhaps speaks to Balagov’s nuanced handling of women characters.
The film struggles to find its focus, coming closest in Temir’s growing recognition of his dad’s shortcomings, particularly the minimal effort he puts into grasping the opportunities that America ostensibly presents. Keoghan’s boyish physicality makes them seem more like brothers at times, notably so in a lovely moment when Azik accidentally triggers a car alarm and the two of them then set off the alarms of every vehicle parked in the street, getting a high off the cacophonous noise. But Temir wants a bigger life than Azik has ever even imagined.
The turning point comes when Temir, in the middle of an argument, calls his dad “weak,” perhaps the worst label you could slap on a man from such a patriarchal family background. Softness and even open expression of feelings between fathers and sons are not part of the male Circassian factory model. That slight brings out Azik’s insecurities.
In one of the film’s most quietly powerful moments, he asks Zalya, “Am I weak?” She responds with silence, her face remaining out of the frame, letting us see only one arm with which she’s furiously mopping the floor. When Azik tries to rid himself of the stigma, calling someone else weak as if to offload the physical weight of the insult, a startling act of violence occurs. But the movie’s tragedy ultimately just kind of hangs there.
Balagov is indisputably a filmmaker with his own distinctive vision, ideally matched with Evgueni and Sacha Galperine’s glowering score and with Fray’s nimble shooting style, which often takes its cue to get in close from the knotted bodies on the wrestling mats. Story-wise, however, Butterfly Jam is too diffuse to measure up to the brutally transfixing Beanpole.
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Chinese director Niu Niu’s Final Payment scooped the Best Film Award in the Fei Mu Awards of this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF), while Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy won Best Film in the festival’s Roberto Rossellini Awards.
Final Payment, which also won Best Actor for Niu Jianrong’s performance, revolves around a homeowner clashing with a contractor over the final payment following a set of renovations on his home. PYIFF’s competition jury stated: “Tearing through a very small rip, the film leads us into a reality and emotional landscape so expansive, where we sigh, lament, and reflect. The director’s approach is concise, unpretentious, and masterful, earning the wholehearted recognition of the entire jury.”
The Best Film award came with a cash prize of $150,000 (RMB1m) with half given to the director for the development of their next film, and half given to the distributor in China. Niu Niu previously directed Mr Junjun, which was awarded with the Jury Award and Youth Jury Award at PYIFF in 2023.
Also in the Fei Mu Awards, Xu Zao won Best Director for Light Pillar, while Best Actress went to Sun Yi for Wang Xiaozhen’s A Joke. The Jury Award was presented to Dong Jie’s Zoom In, Zoom Out, which had its world premiere in Venice Critics Week, while a special mention went to Cai Chengjie’s Suzhou Quartet.
The Fei Mu awards are focused on the festival’s Hidden Dragons section, which selects first, second and third films from emerging directors making Chinese-language films, while the Roberto Rossellini Awards focus on the Crouching Tigers section for emerging international directors.
Congo Boy, which took Best Film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards, also won Best Actor when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at this year’s Cannes film festival. The PYIFF award came with a cash prize of $20,000, with half given to the director for the development of their next film, and half given to the distributor in China.
The PYIFF jury stated: “The Jury unanimously has been moved by this autobiographical story, told in a simple style that echoes the great tradition of neorealism. For a film focusing on a character that confronts his world with optimism despite dark times and takes on his shoulders the destiny of his entire family.”
Also in this section, the Philippines’ Rafael Manuel won Best Director for Filipiñana, while the Jury Award went to Ben’imana, directed by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, which won the Camera d’Or at this year’s Cannes. The jury also awarded Rakan Mayasi’s Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep a Special Mention.
Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui received the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award, shortly before she receives the Camellia Award at Busan International Film Festival next week.
Pingyao’s International Contribution To Chinese Cinema Award went to Marco Müller, who founded the festival with Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke and currently serves as Artistic Director of the Film Art Research Centre at Shanghai University, and veteran producer, director and former chairman of China Film Group Han Sanping. Hello Group chairman Tang Yan was presented with a 10th Anniversary Award.
This year’s PYIFF opened on September 24 with a screening of the 4K restoration of Fei Mu’s Spring In A Small Town; closed with Good Trip, co-directed by Hong Kong filmmakers Norris Wong and Hoi Wong, and also screened Jia’s short film Torino Shadow, which premiered at this year’s Cannes.
PINGYAO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026 AWARDS:
FEI MU AWARDS:
Best Film: Final Payment, dir: Niu Niu
Best Director: Xu Zao, Light Pillar
Best Actress: Sun Yi, A Joke, dir: Wang Xiaozhen
Best Actor: Niu Jianrong, Final Payment, dir: Niu Niu
Jury Award: Zoom In, Zoom Out, dir: Dong Jie
Special Mention: Suzhou Quartet, dir: Cai Chengjie
ROBERTO ROSSELLINI AWARDS:
Best Film: Congo Boy, dir: Rafiki Fariala
Best Director: Filipiñana, dir: Rafael Manuel
Jury Award: Ben’imana, dir: Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
Special Mention: Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep, dir: Rakan Mayasi
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SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Tuesday night’s episode of Dancing with the Stars.
It’s another exciting night in the ballroom as 13 contestants are still eyeing the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy during Week 3 of Dancing with the Stars.
Last week, the judges reinforced just how tough they are going to be this season, once again declining to score anyone above a 7. Still, three couples — Jenna and Val, Ezra and Daniella, and Amber and Pasha — walked away tied for the top of the leaderboard with 21 points. We also said goodbye to Alan Bersten and chef Giada De Laurentiis.
Week 3 is Yacht Rock night, so the remaining couples are performing to hits from artists including Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers, and Luther Vandross.
Here is how the night went.
Olympian Amber Glenn with Pasha Pashkov danced a Foxtrot to “Hold the Line” by Toto. SCORE: 24
Actress Julia Stiles with Ezra Sosa danced a salsa to “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” by Daryl Hall & John Oates. SCORE: 19
Late-night sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez with Whitney Carson danced a Foxtrot to “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes. SCORE: 15
Actress Tatyana Ali with Jan Ravnik performed a Quickstep to “Maneater” by Daryl Hall & John Oates. SCORE: 21
Actor Harry Shum Jr. with Jenna Johnson performed a jive to “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Daryl Hall & John Oates. SCORE: 24
Musician Taylor Hanson with Britt Stewart danced a Foxtrot to “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers. SCORE: 18
Reality star Maura Higgins with Mark Ballas danced a Quickstep to “Turn Your Love Around” by George Benson. SCORE: 22
Reality star Ciara Miller with Brandon Armstrong performed a Cha Cha to “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross. SCORE: 18
Savannah Bananas midfielder Jackson Olson with Emma Slater performed a paso doble to “Easy Lover” by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins. SCORE: 18
Comedian and podcaster Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold danced a Foxtrot to “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac. SCORE: 20
Actress Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy danced a samba to “Africa” by Toto. SCORE: 21
Reality star Tyler Cameron with Sharna Burgess danced a jive to “Still the One” by Orleans. SCORE: 17
Paralympian Ezra Frech with Daniella Karagach danced a Foxtrot to “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. featuring Bill Withers. SCORE: 21
Who goes home?
The competition is now down to 12 as Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart were sent home. Next week is all about Mariah Carey, so the couples will perform a variety of the pop superstar’s biggest hits.
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Another hockey book adaptation has entered the chat.
Netflix is currently building out its cast for the series adaptation of Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book that kicks off the Maple Hill series. This in addition to their show The Sticks that is also currently in the works.
For everything we know about Netflix’s Icebreaker book adaptation so far, read on.
When will Netflix’s Icebreaker series adaptation come out?
A release date has not yet been set. The show has begun to assemble its cast.
Who will lead the Icebreaker show at Netflix?
Daisy Jelley (Poser, How To Have Sex) will portray Anastasia “Stassie” Allen, and Connor Simos (Subversion) will portray Nate Hawkins in the college hockey drama series.
Who else is in the cast of Netflix’s Icebreaker adaptation?
Gabriel Tierney (Rivals, Enola Holmes 2), Auliʻi Cravalho (Moana), newcomer and professional athlete Peter Berry, Chaneil Kular (Best of the Best, Sex Education), Devin Craig (Sex Lives of College Girls, Maize) and Aidan Shaw (We Were Liars, Heated Rivalry, Finding Her Edge) have joined the ensemble cast.
Tierney will play Aaron; Cravalho will portray Lola; Berry is Robbie; Kular will play JJ; Craig will portray Henry and Shaw is Russ.
What is Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker book about?
Stassie is a transfer athlete gunning for Olympic gold. Nate is the campus star chasing the NHL. When an accident forces their teams to share one rink, Anastasia Allen and Nate Hawkins collide—and discipline gives way to obsession, because the only thing more dangerous than wanting to win is wanting each other.
Who else is behind Netflix’s Icebreaker series?
Jade Halley Bartlett (Road House, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Miller’s Girl) created and executive produced the series. Amanda Lasher (Gossip Girl, The Bold Type, Togetherness) serves as showrunner, writer and excutive producer. Grace also executive produces along with Alex Cooper, Matt Kaplan and Mina Lefevre for Cooper’s Unwell Productions.
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