LEFT-HANDED GIRL
(director/writer: Shih-Ching Tsou; screenwriter: Sean Baker; cinematographer: Ko-Chin Chen; editor: Sean Baker; cast: Janel Tsai (Sho-Fen), Shih-Yuan Ma (I-Ann), Nina Ye (I-Jing), Brando Huang (Johnny), Akio Chen (Grandfather), Xin-Yan Chao (Grandmother); Runtime: 108; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Shih-Ching Tsou, Sean Baker, Mike Goodridge, Alice Labadie, Jean Labadie; Good Chaos; Taiwan/France/ USA/UK-in Mandarin, Taiwanese, English subtitles2025)
“A heartfelt, amusing and poignant story.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The first solo directed feature for Taiwanese filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou, who co-directed “Take Out” with long-time collaborator Sean Baker, is a measured success. It’s an accomplished personal slice-of-life film about a family of three females trying to stay afloat financially and remain as a family unit after relocating to the bustling big city of Taipei from the country. Baker is co-writer, editor and producer for this earnest family drama shot on iphone.
Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) is a world-weary, divorced mother with two kids, whose former husband left her a long time ago and is now deceased. She lives with her kids in a tiny apartment and works at night in her nearby noodle stall at the market center. I-Anne (Shih-Yuan Ma) is her rebellious and stubborn teenage daughter, who works at a seedy betel nut stand handling questionable beauty supplies, where she’s expected to dress sexy to please the customers. She’s also having an affair with the creepy married boss. The family’s youngster is the spirited, impressionable and playful I-Jing (Nina Ye), who is a cute 5-year-old searching for her identity.
Johnny (Brando Huang) is the friendly but goofy gadget vendor at the market who flirts with Shu-Fen, but she’s not interested in him.
The move back to the city reunites Shu-Fen with her estranged old-fashioned parents. They are the judgmental grandmother (Xin-Yan Chao), involved in a smuggling racket, and the old-fashioned grandfather (Akio Chen). The traditionalist grandfather foolishly advises I-Jing to never use her left hand because it’s the ‘Devil’s hand.’
The child accepts such superstitious nonsense as the truth and suffers when using only her right hand. She thereby uses her left hand to steal items from the other stalls in the market to help support mom, and justifies this larcency by telling herself the Devil made her do it.
The heartfelt, amusing and poignant story reflects on the struggles of a resilient family of women as they face the realities of the modern world that they must overcome to survive.
It features a marvelous performance by the child actor, who steals all the scenes she’s in. Though the story is always engaging, it becomes overstuffed and loses some of its freshness by introducing too many other threads to its main story. But it never becomes too grim and the characters never lose the sympathy we have for them, and the city’s vibrant colors impactfully come across in the beautiful shots of the neon lit skyline.
It played at the Cannes Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/11/2025 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com