Pierce 刺心切骨

a feature film

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/magnify-taiwanese-thriller-pierce-nelicia-low-cannes-1235988408/

https://variety.com/2021/film/asia/sports-drama-film-pierce-sibling-relationships-1235064117/

Logline: 

When his beloved but dangerous older brother is released from prison, high school fencer Zi-Jie believes he is innocent and goes behind their mother’s back to help him, only to realize the brother he has idealized might only be a fantasy.

當知道神秘莫測的哥哥出獄後，高中擊劍選手子滐堅信哥哥是無辜的，他瞞著母親重新親近哥哥，卻發現他所崇拜的哥哥並不如想像中的完美。

World Sales: Magnify (formerly Magnolia Pictures)

Produced by:

Sam Chua, Jeremy Chua (Potocol, Singapore) and John M Lo;

Patrick Mao Huang, Evril Kuo (Flash Forward Entertainment, Taiwan)

Iza Igel (Harine Films, Poland)

Supported by:

- Hubert Bals HBF+Europe Minority Co-Production Support

- Purin Pictures Production Grant

- Polish Film Institute Minority Co-Production Grant

- Taipei Film Commission, Taipei Cultural Foundation, Taichung City Government, Taoyuan Department of Cultural Affairs, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA)

- IMDA Singapore, Singapore Film Commission

- Full Circle Film Lab 2020

- European Work-In-Progress Cologne - LAVALabs Moving Images Award

- Talents Tokyo 2020 - Special Mention Award

- Focus Asia 2021

Director's note:

While I was in Taipei shooting a short film in 2014, 21-year-old Cheng Chieh stabbed as many people as he could on the subway. While his younger brother supported him, his parents publicly begged the government to execute him.

Having grown up with an older autistic brother, I wrote PIERCE to explore our sibling relationship. When I was young, not understanding my brother’s condition, I idealized him to be a loving, caring older brother. It was only when I grew up that I realized our relationship was made up in my head, and I would never know if my brother actually loved me. Accepting this has been a painful journey for me, and is the same one Jie takes in Pierce.

As an ex-national fencer, I felt that fencing mirrors the intensity of the family dynamics. Aurally, the tense family scenes would be extremely quiet, juxtaposed with the loud fencing scenes full of shouts and screams. Visually, the dreamlike images during the scenes between the two brothers mirrors the younger brother’s yearning for his brother to genuinely care about him, and to be innocent.