• Home
  • About Us
  • Submit Article
  • Contact Us
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023Earlybird Submission Open
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TVLive
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023Earlybird Submission Open
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TVLive
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
No Result
View All Result

Eureka: The Dragon Comes of Age through Violence

Indie Shorts Mag Team by Indie Shorts Mag Team
19 Oct 2022
in Reviews
0
Eureka - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Miida Chu’s Eureka is an intimate journey into the experiences of a young girl straining to rupture the walls that cage her into a life of sex work. Set against the backdrop of anti-Chinese riots of 1885 in California, the film lets itself be completely infused with her tumult as she tries to negotiate with the possibility of freedom and everything it represents. 

The first unexpected thing it brings up for Longlong (Ying Yue Joyce Chong) is a severance with the madam (Ma, played by Cici Lau) of the brothel. The older woman who has acted as both her master and a mother figure in the absence of Longlong’s own mother who sold her. The mother figure haunts Longlong throughout, a treacherous safety harbour that is never safe. The film opens with Longlong’s dialogue with the madam as though she is being sent away. Ma speaks soothingly, like the mother she poses as, but in truth it is punctuated with the grunts of a man atop Longlong. Ma listens at the door. 

Eureka - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Longlong is wild with years of trauma. Ma consoles and cajoles Longlong, always invoking her namesake, the dragon—a dragon always perseveres. The sound of a wooden fish is a recurring motif, sounding eerie, and suggesting the existence of powerful tension just underneath the surface. Unlike Longlong’s open resistance for most of the film, there is control and careful thought associated with this tension.    

Ma uses Longlong’s dragon mask as yet another way to persuade Longlong into submission; her muffled cries from behind it are especially powerful at stating the sum of her life under Ma. A wound always ready to burst into blood. The character is a devastating blend of ferocity and vulnerability, both that of a wounded animal. Indeed, the wooden crate through which we are first introduced to Longlong reinforces the image of the wild, caged, and wounded animal. 

The conflict within the rickety brothel is ensconced within the wider riots against the Chinese, the brothel being an especially favourite target of the white population. The image of the rioters is startlingly familiar. When the dividing lines between the two are blurred, it signals the disintegration of the brothel and Ma’s iron hand. With it comes Longlong’s chance at freedom. 

Eureka - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

It is not separation from Ma alone that holds Longlong back. This is the first instance of a character, any character, in the film being out under the open sky. The brothel is seen from the outside for the first time. Bigger dimensions than the walls of the brothel are now suddenly a fact of existence. Although the madam throws the door open for Longlong, the light is too harsh outside, too dazzling. There are no limits. Fear replaces hope. The defined boundaries of the brothel walls, however miserable, are comforting in their familiarity. 

Like much of Longlong’s experiences, the climax is a brutal coming of age. Longlong replaces the dragon as the water creature with the dragon as the fire creature. It is as liberating as it is unstable, as violent as it is soothing. Exquisitely crafted, Eureka concludes on this tentative note to allow Longlong time to savour this for what it is: a moment that is her own. 

Watch Eureka Short Film Teaser

Eureka: The Dragon Comes of Age through Violence
  • Direction
  • Cinematography
  • Screenplay
  • Editing
  • Music
5
Tags: DramaDrama Short Film ReviewPrivateReviewShort Film Reviews
Previous Post

Early Bird: A Treasure Hunt after a Heist

Next Post

Chidinma: Four Walls and Men who Reinforce them

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Related Posts

The Package - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

The Package: Opening An Unasked for Box

8th February 2023
Anglerfish - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

Anglerfish: A Remedy to Bad Relationships

7th February 2023
Next Post
Chidinma - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Chidinma: Four Walls and Men who Reinforce them

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sponsored

Advertise Here

Featured Post

Announcing Indie Shorts Mag Short Film Festival(ISMSFF) 2022

Announcing Indie Shorts Mag Short Film Festival(ISMSFF) 2022

  • Recent Reviews
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Youtube Vimeo

About Indie Shorts Mag

Indie Shorts Mag is a publishing agency that works within the ‘short film circuit’. We review short films, documentaries, music videos and web series, amongst others. We stand out amongst the short film review sites for being multi-diverse & global in our platform and reach.
Our team works tirelessly to help promote, publicize and market your short films that deserve the shout-out! Besides reviews, we host film festival news as it’s a known fact that the film festival buzz is unmissable and we ensure you aren’t left behind!
We aspire to form a niche for ourselves as the ‘short film magazine’ that remains the hub for filmmakers & their audience.

Popular Topics

  • Announcements
  • Articles
  • Crowdfunding
  • Editorial
  • Film Festival News
  • Film Festivals
  • India Edition
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Marketing
  • News
  • Online Premiere
  • Post-Production
  • Pre-Production
  • Reviews
  • Short Film
  • Short Film Competition
  • Short Film News
  • Tutorials
  • Web Series

Indie Shorts Mag on Instagram

Follow Us On Instagram

  • #ShortFilmReview: What’s charm got to do with it? Read our review. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Vacation: If you don’t have the tropics, store-bought is fine. Read our review and watch the short film. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: La Leyenda del Sombrerón: The hunter of souls stands still, sure of prey. Read our review. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Chekhov
  • #ShortFilmReview: Silver Screen Suicide: Reel absorbs the real. Or is it the other way around? Read our review. Link in bio.

#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #WebSeriesReview: Secrets, Swipes and Lies: Two lives, and their many lies. Read our review and watch the series. Link in bio.

#WebSeries #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: A Clockwork Heart: A Classic Example Of Disney’s Precursors. 

Read our review & watch the short, link in bio.

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: Bittersweet: A Feel-Good Film To Instill Hope. 

Read our review & watch the short. Click on the link in our bio. 
 

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms
  • #ShortFilmTrailer: Grizzly: An Explicit Critique Of Empty Tradition And Toxic Masculinity. 

Read our review & watch the short, link in bio. 
 

#ShortFilm #ShortFilmReview #SupportindieFilm #Trailer #FilmTrailer #ShortFilms

© 2015-2023 Indie Shorts Mag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Hall of Fame
  • Short Film Festival – 2023
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Short Film TV
  • Submit Short Film
    • Submit Short Film for Review
    • Submit Web Series for Review

© 2015-2023 Indie Shorts Mag.