Chieh Shueh Bin started his filmmaking career in 2009 by directing a series of short documentaries on the Typhoon Morakot floods. Before moving on to directing for television, he gained experience working as an editor and assistant director. Five years after his feature debut, the lighthearted romantic drama “Do You Love Me As I Love You” (2020), he presents a completely different kind of picture – a neo-noir revenge movie.
Chang Chi-Mao (Hsiao-chuan Chang) lives a simple and happy life with his wife, while working as a baseball coach with children from the orphanage. One day his infant daughter goes missing, and he gets framed for murder. After being released from prison, he sets out to take down a powerful criminal organization he believes destroyed his life. Driven by a desire for revenge, he stops at nothing, learning about the corruption among the police, as well as the ineffectiveness of the law against the rich.
The movie opens with a brutally intense sequence that sets the tone for what follows – a dynamic, lively and bloody chain of events. Dividing the film into chapters helps structure the story, but with five writers, the whole thing seems chaotic. As the director admitted in an interview, this large team of writers stemmed from a desire to have each character written by someone of a similar age. While this idea has potential, the movie ultimately lacks a unifying thread to bind its many ideas into a coherent whole. As a result, “Organ Child” is characterized by inconsistencies and tonal shifts that weaken the tension key for action films. Nevertheless, one cannot deny it is entertaining and time passes quickly during the screening.
With shadowy compositions and strong contrast between light and dark, the cinematography by Ahoj Chao leans heavily into a dark, neo-noir aesthetic. What’s more, the use of slow motion heightens the drama but also risks feeling overindulgent. The film often reveals clues and recalls previous events, promptly explaining them in a straightforward manner, leaving little to no room for interpretation. Combined with a relentlessly serious musical score, this approach reinforces the grim tone of the story but makes it feel overly uniform and consequently unengaging.
Check the interview with the director and actress
The two main actors, Hsiao-chuan Chang and Moon Lee, deliver competent performances, although their characters lack depth. While neither performance particularly stands out, both actors manage to maintain a steady presence throughout the story. Additionally, much of the supporting cast is underdeveloped. However, this lack of depth is fairly typical for action movies, where character complexity often takes a back seat to pacing and spectacle, which the film has a lot of.
Despite tackling the important and emotionally charged subject of child trafficking, “Organ Child” ultimately falls short of making a lasting impact. While the topic holds weight and the shooting style fits the content, the execution feels standard and fails to distinguish itself from other similar genre entries. The rushed and chaotic narrative structure is entertaining to some extent, but undermines the film’s potential, diminishing the emotional weight the story deserves.
