Left-Handed Girl

Left-Handed Girl is a raw and intimate slice of life. The film centers on three generations of women living in Taipei, a mother (Janel Tsai, excellent), her college dropout older daughter (Shih-Yuan Ma, the film’s mvp) and her youngest daughter (Nina Ye, adorable) as they open a stand in a bustling night market and all three deal with various dilemmas all tied to unrealistic generational expectations. Left-Handed Girl is a little treasure, co-written and edited by Sean Baker and Directed/co-written by Shih-Ching Tsou (in her solo directorial debut) and shot entirely on an iPhone the film has a raw immediacy and an immersive sense of place. All three lead performances are stellar but Ma absolutely steals this film as a troubled young woman who has been crushed by the expectations of her domineering grandmother and disappointed mother, it’s a powerful lived in performance that feels natural. That is true of the film itself, we feel like we are barring witness to lives we don’t see onscreen very often and isn’t that what the empathy machine is all about. This film is a true gem. 

I Give It 5 Stars!!!