International Premiere | In Competition
Taiwan, 2025, 109’, Mandarin
Directed by: Chieh Shueh Bin
Screenplay: Chieh Shueh Bin, Huang Chih-hsiang, Huang Hsin-kao, Chang Chih-sheng, Huang Chi-fa
Cinematography (color): Ahoj Chao
Editing: Joe Zhou, Kao Ming-cheng
Production Design: Yang Chuan-hsin
Music: SiNg Wu
Producers: Eric Liang, Rex Kuo, Xander Guo, Steven Tu
Cast: Chang Hsiao-chuan (Zhang Qi-mao), Moon Lee (Xu Zi-qiao), SHOU (Zhou Shi-hao), Jauder Yin (Xu Yuan-zhe), Hsueh Shih-ling (Wu), Jian Huang (Zeng Jing-dong), Jane Chen (Jewel Hsu), Yu An-shun (Uncle Zhou), Yu Tzu-yu (Auntie Juan)
Date of First Release in Territory: April 11th, 2025
Watching the opening montage of Organ Child, which shows a number of characters being brutally tortured, it’s hard to believe that director Chieh Shueh Bin’s previous film was lighthearted romantic comedy Do You Love Me as I Love You (2020). It’s a shocking opening sequence that effectively sets the tone for this bleak and brutal story of unspeakable grief caused by an inhumane crime.
It’s quickly revealed through a hurried prologue that the man committing some of the tortures in the opening is youth baseball coach Mao (Chang Hsiao-chuan), and he has a damn good reason for doing it: After his infant daughter is kidnapped, he loses both his job and his wife. When he takes the investigation into his own hands, he is framed for the murder of a potential witness and is sent to jail for 18 years.
Faster than you can say “Monte Cristo,” Mao immediately goes on a violent rampage of revenge when he is released on parole. Eventually, he learns that his daughter was kidnapped and murdered as an “organ child” by an organ trafficking ring to save the life of Qiao, a rich man’s daughter. As Mao gets closer to the truth, he finally discovers how wide and how high the conspiracy goes.
However, Organ Child isn’t a muckraking journalistic exposé on the social and political forces behind organ trafficking. Instead, Chieh effectively fits in enough social commentary about the impunity of the rich without losing sight of making an entertaining genre film, letting audiences root for an anti-hero who does very cruel things to even worse people. Chieh also strikes a careful balance in depicting the revenge process without glorifying, maintaining a somber tone that prevents the film from veering into exploitation cinema.
It’s easy to make Mao a psychotic madman pushed to the edge by revenge, but Chang Hsiao-chuan plays Mao with decent everyman goodness and just enough leading man charm to help the audience understand his actions. As Qiao, the rich man’s daughter who supposedly received the heart of Mao’s daughter, Moon Lee proves why she is one of the most sought-after young actors of her generation. Instead of simply playing her as a victim caught in the middle, she plays Qiao with both vulnerability and agency.
Suspenseful, well acted and expertly crafted, Organ Child is a solid take on a type of bleak adult-oriented thriller that is now only seen as longform TV series or direct-to-streaming films in the West. It’s a rare thriller that delivers on the darkness of its premise, but also finds emotional resonance by its conclusion. Most importantly, it oozes cinematic atmosphere that deserves to be experienced on the big screen.
GUEST:
CHIEH Shueh Bin, director
Moon LEE, actress
Chieh Shueh Bin
Chieh began his filmmaking career in 2009, when he directed a series of short documentaries about the Typhoon Morakot floods that year. He worked as an editor and assistant director before directing series and made-for-television films. In 2020, he made his feature directorial debut with coming-of-age romantic comedy Do You Love Me as I Love You. Organ Child is his second feature film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2020 – Do You Love Me as I Love You
2025 – Organ Child