by Brian Hioe
語言:
English
Photo Credit: Film Poster
This is a No Man is an Island film review written in collaboration with Cinema Escapist. Keep an eye out for more!
JULIA KWAN’S 2005 feature, Eve and the Fire Horse, stands the test of time. Even today, more than two decades after its premiere, the film resonates with the contemporary Asian diasporic experience.
Eve and the Fire Horse follows its titular protagonist and her sister Karena, who are second-generation Asian diaspora from a Cantonese-speaking family living in Vancouver, Canada. Although the two are English speakers, their parents primarily communicate with them in Cantonese.
As Asians, the two sisters find themselves ostracized among the other students,and face unwitting discrimination from their teachers, though they find friends in some of the other social outsiders in their communities. Most of all, as children, they don’t always have a grasp on the reality of their surroundings, and instead develop a highly imaginative view of the world.
“Fire horses”, for example–referring to the Chinese belief that those born in the year of the Fire Horse are prone to misfortune–feature especially heavily in their fantasies. When their grandmother dies, they become convinced that their grandmother is reincarnated as a goldfish, due to a partial grasp of the concept of reincarnation.
The sisters’ imaginative flights of fancy reach new heights, however, after Karena is converted to Christianity after being handed a Bible by a missionary who knocks on their door. Not exactly understanding their new religion, the pair begin to fill their home with crosses, even as the family is Buddhist. Subsequently, the two become possessed by an evangelical zeal to proselytize to their family and community members.
The movie has a humorous, humanistic tone. Even so, the film does seem to take the experiences of the two sisters seriously. And its experience rings true to anyone who has grown up in a Western context, surrounded by Christianity, but who comes from a non-Christian cultural background. This is perhaps a major reason for the staying power of the film.
Eve and the Fire Horse is a movie reflective of its times, but which also stands beyond it–as is true of any great work. In this sense, the film is highly worth watching.