Jacky

Jacky is a Chinese kid aged 25 of emigrant parents who lives in a terraced house in Eindhoven with his mother. He grew up in the vacuum between two cultures. He is intelligent but lacks the energy to steer his life in a specific direction. Jacky’s calm life is disrupted when his mother urges him to marry a girl from China, following tradition, and leave the parental home. Before he realises, he is living with the young Chinese Chi-Chi in a new apartment in Amsterdam. Chi-Chi has trouble finding her feet in her new surroundings. Her mother-in-law is not keen on her and it is difficult for her to build an intimate relationship with Jacky. One wonders whether Chi-Chi’s relationship with Jacky and his mother will improve so she can take root in her strange surroundings. Jacky is the impressive feature début by the Dutch-Chinese Fow Pyng Hu. The story is told with few words and with beautiful pictures – mainly of interiors. There are no clichés: the film is as fresh as spring showers and shows convincingly how alien the outside world can look for a group that has so far stayed out of the limelight in Holland.