Shih-Ching Tsou, long the secret weapon of Anora director Sean Baker since the pair met on a filmmaking course in New York, gets her moment to shine in this directorial debut, a family drama. The connections don’t end there: the pair co-wrote this film and it’s very much in the spirit of Baker’s own 2017 gem The Florida Project, which Tsou produced. Oh, and Baker edits too.
Left-Handed Girl pits a young girl’s naivete against the hard edges of adult life, zeroing in on the messy, tender dynamics of mother-daughter bonds. While Baker thrives on populating his worlds with narcissists and budding psychopaths, Tsou opts for a gentler touch, shaping a family drama where even the worst impulses are met with compassion. Shot on iPhones (just like Baker’s 2015 breakthrough Tangerine), the result is a gorgeously colourful Taipei-set film that threads drama, comedy and heart with the ease of her compatriot Ang Lee, landing as a rare ‘life sucks’ relationship drama with a genuinely uplifting afterglow.
Told in a conventional arc, the action starts with Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) returning to the capital with her two girls: teenager I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma) and the irresistibly cute I-Jing (Nina Ye). Puppy-eyed I-Jing is the left-handed girl of the title, and she takes her grandfather’s berating of her ‘devil’s hand’ far too literally.
Left-Handed Girl threads drama, comedy and heart with the ease of Ang Lee
She’s convinced her leftie is possessed and destined to do evil. Early dabbles in petty theft soon pale in comparison with the lengths her grandmother, family matriarch Xiao-Hong (Blaire Chong), goes to make a quick buck. Wielding her money and elder-stateswoman status, Xiao-Hong’s transactional view of relationships brings misery to her children, with guilt and shame her weapons of choice.
The fallout is enormous. Both Shu-Fen and I-Ann have grown into women whose lives orbit around victimhood: Shu-Fen pays for her ex-husband’s funeral despite struggling to cover the rent on the noodle shop she’s just opened, while I-Ann is sleeping with her young boss, who’s strung her along with claims he’s ‘in the middle of a divorce’. It’s a lie that collapses fast when his wife shows up, fury in her eyes. It’s one of several moments that peel back the secrets and lies governing their lives, culminating in an explosive night of revelations at the traditional birthday bash for the grandmother’s latest turn around the sun.
Not every performance is assured – though Nina Ye is consistently impressive – and the script includes perhaps one twist too many. Yet Left-Handed Girl remains a sensitive and affecting drama that avoids sentiment in favour of more grounded emotional truths.
In UK and Ireland cinemas Fri Nov 14. Streaming on Netflix Nov 28.