★ 5 / 10
Fewer moviegoing experiences are more exasperating than comedies
Brent Marchant
Fewer moviegoing experiences are more exasperating than comedies (or comedy-dramas) that try too hard but invariably fall flat. These insipid, allegedly zany…
Fewer moviegoing experiences are more exasperating than comedies (or comedy-dramas) that try too hard but invariably fall flat. These insipid, allegedly zany offerings try viewer patience with their listless narratives, lack of substance and even greater absence of laughs. But, unfortunately, that’s precisely what dooms this second feature outing from writer-director-producer Shih-Ching Tsou. The film follows the lives of a single mother, Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), and her two daughters, I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma) and I-Jing (Nina Ye), who relocate (from where it’s never made especially clear) to Taipei (where they already seem to have a surprisingly established support network) to open a street food eatery in a stall at a popular city night market. Together and separately, they struggle to adapt to their new circumstances with supposedly funny, touching and occasionally dramatic outcomes. However, the follow-through on fulfilling these objectives is weak at best, most likely attributable to a narrative that tries to incorporate far too many story threads, most of which are severely underdeveloped. The result is a picture that comes across like a strung-together collection of episodes hoping to combine to make for a cohesive story, an effort that yields an epic failure, to be sure. Even the premise providing the film with its title – the adventures of a young, left-handed girl – is woefully thin, not much to build upon in drumming up a viable and engaging story. The fault here lies with an anemic script co-authored by the filmmaker and her frequent collaborator, writer-director Sean Baker, who captured four Oscars for his 2024 release “Anora,” including honors for best original screenplay, a proficiency that clearly hasn’t transferred over in this release (not that it was even readily present in its predecessor for that matter). Except for one segment near the film’s end, “Left-Handed Girl” largely lacks the edge found in many of Baker’s previous works, frequently soft-pedaling its material here to the point of almost becoming innocuous, playing like a namby-pamby family comedy with a few risqué bits thrown in to entertain the adults in the audience. What’s most annoying, though, is the performance by relative newcomer Ye, who constantly mugs for the camera and whose saccharin-encrusted performance becomes increasingly cloying with each passing frame. Yet, despite the many foregoing issues, the film has nevertheless amassed considerable recognition thus far, including two Critics Choice Award nominations, a nomination and win at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and a designation as one of 2025’s Top International Films by the National Board of Review, among numerous additional honors by critics’ organizations and other film festivals. Perhaps I’m missing something here, but I honestly don’t understand the hype and support this production has garnered. I expect more out of offerings like this and from the parties involved in this project. In this case, I guess that can be chalked up to more than just the girl being left-handed.
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★ 7 / 10
"Look mom"
Ikaraye
Give that small girl the oscar already her acting is impressive her expressions and all, her alone is the career of this movie she does everything so good…
Give that small girl the oscar already her acting is impressive her expressions and all, her alone is the career of this movie she does everything so good kudos to her.You may think this is just a boring family drama at first but I promise you it's more than that it takes a level of deep connection and secrets.After the final moment your view for the entire movie will definitely changed.I think the final 20 minutes of the movie sums up almost everything, Yet we couldn't get to know what happened between her and her ex husband I really wanted to know all the fuss behind that.
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★ 8 / 10
FilmdePool
The Left-Handed Girl follows a single mother and her two daughters returning to Taipei. The mother struggles with debt after her ex becomes gravely ill; the…
The Left-Handed Girl follows a single mother and her two daughters returning to Taipei. The mother struggles with debt after her ex becomes gravely ill; the rebellious elder daughter gets involved with a married man; and the younger one becomes terrified of her "demonic" left hand after a tragic accident. The film captures their intertwined lives, as well as the mother's relationship with her own parents and siblings, revealing both humor and helplessness in the face of traditional Chinese views on family and gender.During the Q&A, director Shih-Ching Tsou shared her long creative journey with Sean Baker. Working on Baker's low-budget projects meant handling everything from costumes to props to extras, which Tsou described as attending "Sean Baker Film School." The film inherits something essential from Baker's cinema: compassion for its characters.Whether the mother, or the two daughters, each is portrayed with care and dignity. The film guides us through their shared struggles, buried secrets, and the emotional storm that erupts in the final sequence. That quiet compassion, which defines Baker's best work, shines here as well.One late-night scene stands out: the two sisters wandering through a Taipei night market. Without spoilers, the older girl says a line that suddenly changes how we see her. As she leads her younger sister through the market's stalls, we glimpse another side of her, a subtle revelation that also quietly foreshadows later developments. She suddenly feels more than just a stereotypical rebellious teen. Perhaps she is moved by her little sister's pure love for their mother, which prompts her sudden change of heart. (And the younger girl, sensing her mother's inner conflict, ends up doing something both touching and amusing.) Though the three of them rarely enjoy what we might call quality time together, their bond proves far stronger than it first appears. They affect and transform one another through love, that very emotion becomes the seed from which each character grows into fullness.
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98%
TOMATOMETER
· 108 reviews
82%
AUDIENCE
· 100 ratings
7.3/10
10.1K
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The film is Taiwanese,NOT CHINESE. Get it right!!!!!