The Harsh Truth is Unveiled in ‘Paper Wrap Fire’

Moments pass in boredom for Vincent which ends up with him attempting to play table tennis alone. The ping pong ball almost hits a handsome nurse (Shing Ka) who only looks at him disappointedly and moves on to pushing the wheelchair of an elderly he seems to be providing care for. Vincent observes the nurse as he instructs the elderly, Mrs. Yu, to wait for her daughter who will be picking her up. He then passes by Vincent to turn on the speaker, filling the room with classic music. The nurse then asks Mrs. Yu and Vincent if they like the music. Vincent replies no. The nurse then asks him to not turn it to hip-hop which makes Vincent laugh. He seems to find the nurse amusing and interesting.

The nurse promptly exits the center. Just as he had left though, Vincent notices an ID on the ground, picks it up, and identifies the nurse as Kar Fai Chen, a health technician. Vincent hurries outside and follows Chen around the city unbeknownst to the nurse. Eventually, Chen ends up going inside a massage parlor and talking to an attendant. Vincent waits outside and sees the said attendant leave the shop which he takes as a sign to finally go inside.

Inside, Vincent sees rooms covered with curtains and separated by wall dividers. Vincent manages to peek in between a gap and sees a man (presumably Chen) getting a body massage. He observes what’s happening inside for a while before deeming it uninteresting and starts to move to a different room when he hears a soft moan. Vincent then climbs on a stool and proceeds to take a look at the scenario from above the divider. The scene that unfolds in front of him surprises him as the man is getting sexually pleasured by a woman. But nothing could have prepared him for the woman suddenly turning around and then seeing his own mother, Lisa, staring back at him.

Lisa panicky calls for him as Vincent dashes outside and away from the shop. Vincent ends up going back to the community center where he takes out Chen’s ID, angrily tears it to pieces, and steps on it repeatedly.

A few moments later, Lisa appears at the center where a pensive Vincent is looking at the bustling city from the window. Vincent sees her and Lisa throws her an embarrassed look before moving to leave, signaling that they are finally about to go home.

The two move upstairs once again in a wordless manner. When they reach the door to their apartment, they see it vandalized with spray paint that said “Pay up, whore.” Unable to control her emotions, Lisa starts breaking into fitful sobs before finally crumpling to the floor. Vincent joins her. Lisa places a hand on his arm. Vincent puts his hand on top of hers as an act of comfort and consolation. Lisa continues to cry on his shoulder as they sit there on the stairwell, seeing each other eye-to-eye for the first time.  

Writer’s thoughts:

‘Paper Wrap Fire’ is an emotional and heart-tugging short film that rightfully received praises, has been shown to multiple film festivals, and has won the Granny Award at the New Hampshire Film Festival in 2014 as well as a best actress nod for Rachel Lu’s incredible and emotional portrayal of a single mother struggling to make a living for her teenage son. 

The title of the short film is presumably from the Chinese proverb “paper cannot wrap fire” which meant “one cannot deny the truth” which in this case happened when Lisa’s secret was eventually revealed to her own son through his fascination with a handsome stranger. 

All in all, it was worth watching and this writer would recommend BLTai readers to give it a shot.

Watch ‘Paper Wrap Fire’ on GagaOOLala.