Directed by Julia Kwan

Julia Kwan's feature film debut proves that little girls-fantasy prone, gullible, yet anxious for meaning-are the perfect foil to intense religious and existential questions. Sisters Eve (Phoebe Jo Jo Kut) and Karena (Hollie Lo) struggle in reconciling the Buddhism of their parents (Vivian Wu and Lester Chit Man Chan) with newfound Christianity in 1970s Vancouver, Canada. Viewers who took door-to-door Mormons and hotel drawer Gideons too seriously as children will smile in seeing the sisters' heaven-bent obsession with ritual, self-castigation and all the places where bad souls go. Kwan is adept in rendering the details of girlhood as well. The earlier short film Three Sisters on Moon Lake, also on the DVD, is like a distillation of Fire Horse in both plot and themes, although the flirtation with tragedy is inconclusive in the short. Other special features include deleted scenes, and an honest and endearing film commentary with Kwan, 12-year-old Kut and the director of photography. -Rebecca Klassen