Left-Handed Girl

A young mother and her two daughters return to Taipei, after years in the countryside, to open a stall in the city’s bustling night market. Adapting does not come easily for any of them, especially as they strive to make a living. An old-fashioned grandmother, hell-bent on stopping her left-handed granddaughter’s habit of using the “wrong” hand, enters the picture. Thus, three generations of women must find common ground and reach equilibrium amidst a whole new environment. In her directorial comeback following the mesmerizing Take Out, which was filmed twenty years ago with Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou, a long-time collaborator of the leading American filmmaker, crafts a disarmingly tender and emotionally charged Taiwanese film exploring fresh starts and personal space in the big city, with the Academy Award-winning creator of Anora decisively contributing as editor, co-producer, and co-writer. Before Left-Handed Girl, no other film had engaged in dialogue with the singular The Florida Project better. With this badge of honor, Shih-Ching Tsou’s equally commendable film is primed to advance from Cannes’ Critics’ Week to the upcoming Academy Awards.