At The Movies: In Singapore-Taiwan film Pierce, brotherly bonds cut deeper than blades

Pierce (M18)

106 minutes, opens on Nov 7 ★★★★☆

The story: High school fencer Zijie (Liu Hsiu-fu) believes in his older brother Zihan (Tsao Yu-ning), who returns after seven years in juvenile detention following a violent incident at a fencing competition. Despite their mother’s (Ding Ning) objections, Zijie secretly reconnects with his brother, causing events that will force him to question everything he believes about family and truth.

The complex dynamics of sibling relationships have long been fertile ground for psychological thrillers.

Singaporean director Nelicia Low’s debut feature Pierce, a Singapore-Taiwan-Poland production, joins this tradition while carving its distinctive path, using the precise, calculated world of competitive fencing as both setting and metaphor.

Low, herself a former national fencer, brings remarkable authenticity to the sports sequences. But it is in the quiet moments between matches that Pierce truly excels.

The Taiwan-set film explores how family loyalty can blind people to harsh realities, particularly through the eyes of Zijie, whose unreliable narration keeps viewers constantly questioning what is real and what is filtered through his desperate need to believe in Zihan’s goodness.

Liu delivers a breakthrough performance, capturing both the physical demands of competitive fencing and the psychological complexity of a young man caught between family obligations, truth and self-deception. Tsao brings magnetic menace to Zihan, crafting a character whose charm makes his potential for darkness more unsettling.

The film’s thoughtful visual style, which comes from Polish cinematographer Michal Dymek, mirrors its themes of self-delusion and wishful thinking. A recurring motif of 1950s and 1960s oldies, performed by Ding Ning as the brothers’ torch-singer mother, provides an eerie counterpoint to the mounting tension.

Pierce offers a bracing portrait of how young men seek out and cling to male role models, particularly those who offer attention and validation. Low demonstrates insight into the way this craving for masculine connection can blind boys to red flags that are glaringly obvious to others.

Through Zijie’s increasingly concerning choices, she explores how the desperate need for brotherhood and mentorship can override common sense. It is an authentic depiction that will ring a bell with anyone who has seen young men gravitate towards toxic influences. 

The third act arrives with an intensity that will shock, and most likely polarise audiences. Yet Low never loses sight of her story’s emotional core. While the conclusion may challenge some viewers, her bold choices pay off in a psychological thriller that exposes how easily people choose comforting lies over uncomfortable truths.

Hot take: The emotionally complex Pierce shows how family, more than anyone else, cut the deepest wounds.