Chinook Film Group

Chinook Film Group presents Eve and the Fire Horse Oct. 18 at the Cochrane Movie House

Liz Braun- Cochrane Times
Wednesday October 11, 2006

Sun Media — Eve & the Fire Horse is a direct route back to childhood. Not a Disneyfied childhood, either.
Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Julia Kwan delves into her own past to capture the world inhabited by kids — a world of cause and effect, huge questions, magic, enchantment and mysterious adults.
Eve (Phoebe Jojo Kut) is nine. She narrates much of the story, offering insider information on such matters as her father’s crooked fingers and his consequent lack of luck.
According to the Chinese calendar, Eve is a Fire Horse, born in 1966. That means she is meant to be stubborn or troublesome. What it seems to mean from Eve’s perspective is that she is at the centre of turmoil and the world is vaguely menacing at all times. And it could be her fault.
Grandmother is old. Mother has foolishly cut down a tree. Uncle has high blood pressure. Grandma is sick. Mother is in bed a long time. Fear. Woe. Mourning. And lots and lots of superstitions.

Things change when door-to-door evangelists give Eve’s big sister Karena (Hollie Lo) a Bible. Karena decides to become a saint and she takes Eve with her on her journey. They pray, they do good deeds and they attempt to convert their classmates.
Eve’s imagination easily accommodates Buddhism and this new Christianity. Her visions of talking goldfish and dancing gods now include a waltzing Jesus. (Filmmaker Kwan has said of her own childhood, “I have a memory of our mantels being filled with statues of Buddha, fat and happy, alongside pictures of Jesus, emaciated and suffering. I believed they were friends and danced at night.”)
Set in ‘70s Vancouver, this movie is an endearing memoir of childhood and of a certain time and place of innocence.
Eve and her sister balance between cultures and hover at the outside edge of adult life, listening to their parents talk and drawing their own conclusions.
In keeping with the childhood angle, the film moves at a dreamy pace and sparkles with visual magic, reflecting Eve’s view of the world and of matters real and imagined.
Eve & the Fire Horse is a feature debut for Kwan, a Canadian filmmaker who has won several awards for her short films. It was shown at the Toronto film festival last fall and was screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
It’s in English, Cantonese and Mandarin (with English subtitles). It is sweet but not cloying and humorous in a heartbreaking kind of way.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are available at Java Jamboree and Phantom’s Music and are $10. Tickets are also at the door.