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Pierce

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S. R. Praveen

About Pierce
Title: Pierce
Original Title: 刺心切骨
Plot: Shy and sweet-natured Zijie spends his time learning the art of fencing and listening to his widowed mother, Ai Ling, sing at a local nightclub. When Zijie’s older brother Zihan – a three-time national fencing champion – is released from juvenile prison, Zijie remains intent upon seeing him, despite his mother’s wishes. As Zihan starts mentoring his younger brother, their bond strengthens. But as Zijie develops newfound skills as a fencer and a romance with his teammate blossoms, Zihan’s innocence becomes more questionable.
Cast: Tsao Yu-ning, Hsiu-Fu Liu, Ding Ning, Rosen Tsai, Benjamin Tsang,
Director: Nelicia Low
Cinematography: Michał Dymek
Editor: Nelicia Low
Pierce
S. R. Praveen
The Hindu
Nelicia Low’s worlds of movies and fencing come together seamlessly in her debut film

In Singapore, I picked fencing because two of my favourite movies growing up had swordplay – Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. So actually it was my love for film that led me to fencing, says the filmmaker.

While watching Pierce, the debut feature of former Singapore national fencer Nelicia Low, one would assume that the sport inspired the film, for fencing is at the very centre of the narrative which deals with brotherly affection and psychopathic tendencies. The trademark moves in the sport, which one character defines as chess played with swords, also parallels the behaviour of the characters in the film, screened in the world cinema section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) on Saturday (December 14, 2024).

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