Eve and the Fire Horse, the feature film debut of Sundance short films vet Julia Kwan, is a magical, elegiac view of life, death and religion as seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old Chinese girl living in Canada in the 1970s. Eve Eng (newcomer Phoebe Kut, in a remarkably nuanced and natural performance) was born in 1966, the Year of the Fire Horse, considered an unlucky year for a child to be born. Fire Horse children are said to be strong-willed, Eve tells us in voiceover, and therefore undesirable, and were often drowned in the river as soon as they were born. The river, says Eve, is full of the spirits of the drowned Fire Horses.
In Eve's household, her grandmother upholds the traditions of Buddhism, filling the water offering bowls daily and performing rituals. As the film opens, Eve's mother, May Lin (Vivian Wu) chops down the apple tree in the family's backyard; it is considered bad luck to chop down an apple tree, like severing a cord, and so when a few months later May Lin miscarries a son, she is convinced it was because she cut down the tree, and retreats to her room in a deep depression.
When Eve's grandmother dies, she is convinced it is her fault, because her grandmother watered the garden for her that day. She sees her grandmother's ghost downstairs seven days later and runs to her mother's room, tearfully asking if her grandmother hates her. Eve's father tells her and her older sister, Karena (Hollie Lo, another newcomer turning in a marvelous performance) that their grandmother will be reincarnated as a goldfish, an image that comforts Eve, who then asks for a goldfish of her own. When Karena is given a religious book about dying and heaven by a pair of door-to-door evangelists, she becomes drawn to Christianity and salvation. After their father departs for China to bury his mother, Karena and Eva start going to Catholic Sunday School and form a club, "The Girls of Perpetual Sorrow" - of which they are the only members. Their mother, deciding that "two Gods are better than one" and that having both religions will be safer for the girls (she especially likes the commandment about obeying your father and mother), begins weaving images of Christianity into their Buddhist household. Still mourning the loss of her son, she also begins meditating daily, in the desperate hope of finding the faith her daughters latch onto so easily.
Others on Eve and the Fire Horse: Ken Eisner of Variety was impressed, calling the film "an exceptional feature debut for young helmer-scripter Julia Kwan."
Kwan subtlely weaves in threads of racism and hatred into the film along with life, death and religion, but never gets too heavy-handed with her serious subjects. Eve questions why a girl with long blond hair and white skin has no friends. "Because she's PWT," Karena tells her. "That means 'poor white trash'." "Are we poor white trash too?" Eve asks, a question that implies that, like their neighbor, the sisters are shunned by their schoolmates because of their difference. Karena sees a Shikh boy picked on by the white kids; he later turns on her and pelts her with snowballs, calling her a "Stupid Chink". Eve befriends the friendless "PWT", only to have her turn her back on Eve later, when she becomes accepted by the Sunday School girls after Eve invites her to attend.
Kwan also wrote the script, which perfectly captures the nuances and language of childhood. The story is loosely based on Kwan's own childhood, growing up Chinese in Vancouver. In the intro before the show, Kwan told the audience that the inspiration for the story was her own grandmother's death when Kwan was five; her father told her that her grandmother would be reincarnated as a goldfish, which Kwan found very beautiful and soothing. Three years later, when she went to Sunday School, Kwan was told that her grandmother had been sent to Hell for being a Buddhist.
Eve and the Firehorse is everything good filmmaking ought to be - rich, inventive storytelling, just the right touches of humor and levity, and heart-rending acting from both young girls and veteran Wu. Kwan's directing touch is light-handed, giving her young actresses room to bring their naturally delightful personalities to their roles, and the fantasy bits, because they are always seen from Eve's point of view, never seem out of place. Not many filmmakers would conceive of showing the blending of Buddhism and Catholicism with a child's vision of Jesus and Buddha dancing joyfully together, or a Buddhist goddess telling Eve that things have gotten a little tense with two religions coexisting in one household. "Everyone has to tiptoe around Jesus," the Goddess sighs ruefully. "He thinks he's the only one in the house."
Eve and the Firehorse is a delightfully imaginative tale, woven with threads of childhood imagination and a gift for storytelling. The film is in the World Cinema - Dramatic competition, and judging from the overwhelming audience response, the post-show bathroom buzz and the number of people I saw tearing "5" on their ballots, it's a definite contender. Even the Sundance volunteer helping with street crossing was in on it - as I crossed he said, "Looks like you just saw a great film!" "Yeah," I replied, "Eve and the Firehorse." "Oh, that one," he nodded sagely. "Everyone is talking about that film tonight." Look for buzz on this film to continue to build to a fever pitch, as word of mouth spreads.
