What I see when I watch other people's movies: A BETTER PLACE.

We're here to talk about the butterfly that lands on Todd's back - but first, let me tell you about this film.

A Better Place is the debut film of Vincent Pereira—and thus far, the only film he has ever directed.

In the 1990’s, bouncing off the success of Kevin Smith’s debut film Clerks, View Askew Productions turned out several indie films directed by other talents within Smith's social circle. This included a largely unknown [if not forgotten] gem called, A Better Place.

A Better Place is a story about alienation, teen violence in America, and troubled youth--and is one of the most realistic looks at what it felt like to be a teenager in the 1990s, and the apathetic ways teens interacted with one-another.

Although these topics are heavily tackled nowadays, especially in light of how things have gone for the past twenty years, in the mid-1990’s many Americans were likely unaware of how big the problem of teen violence actually was. Pereira made his film a few years before Columbine and many years before Sandy Hook and other more recent school massacres. Whether he knew it or not, Pereira is a filmmaker who predicted the rise in school violence, and had a thumb on the pulse of America in regards to the nation's failure to provide teenagers with meaningful mental healthcare. The film inadvertently foreshadows what the early 21st century would be like in many American school districts.

So there are two friends - let's call them, The Cheesquake Buddies,
one is angier than the other, demonstrates his issues throughout the film, but eventually comes into possession of a handgun. There's a standoff in the woods, and the tables are turned. The cool-headed Buddy ends up with the gun, and decides to end it. It's goodbye Todd.

During Todd‘s execution scene, a butterfly lands on his back just prior to him getting shot dead. This was an accident and it wasn’t a case where it happened once and they used that specific take. According to Pereira, the butterfly landed on the actor’s back twice - each time, seeming to wait for the camera to roll. In situations like this, any filmmaker worth their salt would come to the conclusion that the butterfly is meant to be part of the scene.

For years, I've always thought that any meaning that can be derived from this moment is up for interpretation, of course, but never had one for myself - at least not until recently.

Despite my criticism of spiritual hustles, religion, and the hustle of the church -- as a storyteller I pay attention when things of spiritual significance happens to a character - because in character growth, change at a spiritual level is often the most telling of what a story is really about - and as of late I'm now interpreting the butterfly as a spirit of sorts - not a specific personality or anything, more equivalent to that of the person who constantly notices 11:11 on their clock every morning and takes it as a sign that they're going to be okay.

The butterfly is Inevitable - a spirit guide that has arrived, because Todd's fate is inevitable - in that, it had to be. It was supposed to be. He had to die, and a butterfly had to arrive.
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Read an article I wrote about the A BETTER PLACE for A World of Film:
[ Ссылка ]
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If you're interested in my films, my two feature arthouse films DEATH & LIFE and FRACTALS are both available to stream on Prime Video and TubiTV. Many of my shorts and experimental are available on this channel. Sixteen Stories assets and clips will be available here at some point.

I also have a podcast where I talk about the art life: The Eric Norcross Podcast

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