LEFT-HANDED GIRL -- An Intimate Story With a Gigantic Heart

Review by Camden Ferrell

Shih-Chang Tsou is most known for co-directing 2004’s Take Out with Sean Baker, the first of several collaborations between the filmmakers. Her first solo directorial effort, Left-Handed Girl, had its premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Filmed on an iPhone and featuring a stellar cast of characters, this is a movie that is full of heart, charm, and interesting perspectives on its themes of family and tradition. 
 
Shu-Fen is a single mother who moves to Taipei with her two daughters, I-Ann and I-Jing. In this new environment, they attempt to open a night market stall. This movie follows the women as they navigate their new city, adapt to their newfound challenges, and deal with the relationships they have for better or for worse. It’s a simple story about characters entering a new chapter in their lives and the circumstances that arise from it. It’s an intimate story, and it’s one that seems to speak strongly to Tsou’s sensibilities as a filmmaker. 
 
Written by Tsou and Baker, it’s a movie that thrives off its small moments. And its these small moments of nuance that allow the film’s bigger moments to pay off so beautifully. I think their writing juggles the differing perspectives of its characters very well. When writing scenes from the perspective of its youngest character, there’s a certain subdued youthful exuberance that is quite infectious. This differs from the more grounded adult-drive scenes. Tsou and Baker balance these moments without losing a sense of consistency that makes the movie feel like a cohesive body of work.  ​

The acting in this movie is a large part of why the movie works as well as it does. While they’re given great material to work with, the cast is able to inject a sense of authenticity that elevates the script and contributes a sense of earnestness into the production. Both Esther K. Chae and Janel Tsai work wonders as the main adult leads, and they play into the family dynamics of the movie convincingly. 
 
While it might seem like a surface level examination, it’s hard to completely separate this work from the prior works of Baker (especially since he wrote and edited it).  There is an undeniable sense of genuine scrappiness to the film that evokes his prior films, and it’s the kind of experience that leverages shared human experiences to expertly put you in the character’s shoes. In addition to this, one stylistic distinction is the aforementioned use of iPhones to film this movie. Much like Baker’s Tangerine, this movie’s cinematographers adapt beautifully to the limitations of the iPhone, crafting a visually impressive movie at a fraction of the cost.  
 
Left-Handed Girl is heartfelt and adorable more often than not. Tsou creates a warm hug of a movie that still isn’t afraid of tackling some of the more pressing themes about family dynamics and conflicting values. It’s a movie with no shortage of authenticity, and it’s one that beckons us to recall on our own experiences.  
 
Left-Handed Girl is in theaters November 14. 
 
Rating: 4/5 ​