‘Pierce’: Karlovy Vary Review

Dir. Nelicia Low. Singapore/Taiwan/Poland. 2024. 109 minutes

Concord is the main focus of Singaporean filmmaker Nelicia Low’s Taipei-set debut function Pierce, by which estranged siblings are reunited after years aside. That will sound just like the premise for a heart-warming drama, however Low is burrowing into darker territory: the elder brother is a just lately launched juvenile offender who could very properly be a violent sociopath, whereas the youthful has a worrying tendency to idealise their childhood. However what provides Pierce an unnerving frisson is the brothers’ mutual enthusiasm for fencing which ends up in some actually pointed encounters. With its intricate clashing of sabres and emphasis on rigorous technique, this lightning-fast sport proves to be an incisive metaphor for a way they arrive to anticipate each other’s strikes, even when their entanglement goes past the mat.

The urgent bodily and psychological dynamics of the fight sport are really delivered to the fore

Enjoying within the Crystal Globe Competitors at Karlovy Range, Pierce tells a gripping story in a coolly fashionable trend and will make its mark on the pageant circuit with out breaking a sweat. This can be a stylish package deal which comes with appreciable art-house cachet: the credit of its varied producers embrace Pham Thien An’s Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) and Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes (2023), whereas sound designer Tu Duu-chih is famend for his collaborations with such luminaries as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Wong Kar-wai. Its core power, although, is the narratively fleet but psychologically layered screenplay from Low (herself a former nationwide fencer), which ensures that Pierce performs as a complicated style piece. Additional engagements at outstanding occasions are more likely to observe, as is eager curiosity from main specialty distributors and high-end streamers.

Younger fencer Jie (Liu Hsiu-fu) aspires to observe within the footsteps of older brother Han (Tsao Yu-ning) – albeit not too intently. Han was a three-time nationwide champion who killed an opponent with a damaged blade. Regardless of claiming that it was an accident, Han ended up in juvenile jail. Forbidden from visiting Han by their mom Ai Ling (Ding Ning), Jie holds fond reminiscences of his brother no matter her insistence that he was all the time a foul apple.

When Han is granted early launch after seven years, Jie considers reconnecting. However it’s a masked Han who makes the preliminary overture by sneaking into Jie’s fencing class for a duel. Quickly, Han is taking part in mentor by honing Jie’s fencing abilities and advising him on learn how to romance delicate teammate Hui (Rosen).

Han’s reappearance additionally impacts Ai Ling, who has tried to maneuver on from the disgrace of Han’s conviction and likewise the lack of her husband to most cancers. She makes a dwelling as a nightclub singer and has attracted an enthralling suitor in fellow widower Zhuang (Lin Tsu-Heng). Nevertheless, the story she has crafted to elucidate Han’s absence could not maintain water now he’s again on the streets of Taipei.

Pierce is the second family-themed psychological thriller of the yr to function aggressive junior fencing following Lin Jianjie’s Temporary Historical past Of A Household, however right here the urgent bodily and psychological dynamics of the fight sport are really delivered to the fore. After ingeniously fusing a plethora of methods to create a donkey’s perspective in Jerzy Skolimowski’s experimental head-scratcher EO (2022), cinematographer Michal Dymek operates in classical mode right here. The fencing matches are captured by fluidly elegant pans which underline how particularly assured opponents set the tempo, and emphasise the ability that Han exerts over Jie. Dymek’s nearer protection is exactly lower by Low and Eric Mendelsohn to convey the drive of lunges and instil the paranoia that may stem from not realizing who’s behind the opposite masks. Most of the duels evince a heightened realism that’s enhanced by Tu’s rattling sound design and Piotr Kurek’s discordant rating.

Low demonstrates a certain hand all through, and finds area for compassionate character moments with out lessening the slow-burn rigidity. These embrace Jie’s tentative courtship of Hui and the efforts made by Ai Ling to attract a line between previous and current, that are movingly etched by a wonderful Ding. Low additionally exhibits how feelings are strongly formed by subjective recollection. A scene by which the cheerfully intoxicated brothers sure by rainswept streets to Neil Sedaka’s evergreen ’Oh! Carol’ whereas being juxtaposed with a flashback to their youthful selves has an ironic sting, because it recaptures a childhood that won’t have been so joyous. As well as, haunting flashbacks to a big incident are offered in a grainy palette that implies reminiscence is unreliable – and even maleable, if the person is so inclined.

In dramatising these thoughts video games, a compellingly emotionless Tsao nails Han’s manipulative streak – in addition to together with his brother, he additionally is aware of simply what buttons to press when coping with his case employee or in social conditions. Nevertheless, it’s Jie who embodies the central battle of fantasy vs. actuality as he engages in a excessive stakes internal duel: is Han the harmless, supportive brother that he has all the time needed or does he pose a menace to society?

Wholly emphatic newcomer Liu does properly to painting how Jie is wracked with doubt, particularly as issues come the boil on the nationwide fencing match. The way by which Low finally resolves Jie’s dilemma constitutes a stunning flip which can appear to return out of left discipline however, upon reflection, is completely in line with the movie’s advanced psychology.