With the magnificent Left-Handed Girl, Shih-Ching Tsou sou finds poetry in motion, meaning in the mess.
Winner of the Critics’ Week prize at Cannes 2025 and now Taiwan’s official Oscar submission, Left-Handed Girl is the solo debut of Shih-Ching Tsou — longtime producer and collaborator of Sean Baker. All credit and acclaim is due to this magnificent film — one of my absolute favourites of this year’s selection at Rome Film Festival. Tsou bring us along on a magical mystery tour through the street markets of Taipei in a gorgeously shot, emotive family drama.
The title emerges from five-year-old I-Jing (Nina Ye), an unbelievably cute kid who becomes convinced that her left hand has been possessed by the devil. Nina Ye’s performance stands up impeccably alongside the rest of the performances of every adult actor — no mean feat for such a young actress!
I-Jing’s mother is Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), who has recently moved her family back to Taipei under unclear circumstances. She quickly sets about renting and running a noodle stand in a crowded night market, fighting to keep family affairs afloat as a single mother with little to no family support. I-Jing’s older sister I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma) is twenty, restless, and already burned out — working long hours at a betel nut stand, struggling with the pressure of being a young woman in the big city – running into ex high school colleagues at the market and navigating her creepy boss.
The film’s world — the luminescent night market, the flicker of scooters, the swirl of neon and steam — is utterly hypnotic, shot by the wonderful Ko-Chin Chen and Tzu-Hao Kao. The colours and the childish beauty are reminiscent of The Florida Project but this time set in the night markets of Taipei.
If the final act edges toward melodrama — a birthday banquet where old secrets and generational wounds finally explode — it doesn’t veer completely into over-the-top territory, remaining emotionally authentic and charmingly sweet right till the closing scene.
Left-Handed Girl is full of energy and empathy; it isn’t hard to fall in love with this film. Tsou finds poetry in motion, meaning in the mess. A must watch and a promising contender in the upcoming awards season!
