‘Left-Handed Girl' Review: Producer/Co-Writer Sean Baker's First Post-Oscar Film Follows Taiwanese Family's Secrets & Lies
Set in a bustling Taiwanese night market that also seems like a Melrose Place-style food court, the film is focused almost entirely on its female characters: mother Sho-Fen (Janel Tsai), older teen daughter I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma), and the youngest child I-Jing (an adorable Nina Ye). Yes there are men here, most notably co-worker Johnny (Brando Hiang), who figure into the action, as well as a grandfather who warns left-handed I-Jing to never use what he terms as 'the devil's hand.' This was the most frightening part for me as I am completely left-handed and had to type this review with my right out of fear.
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All that aside, the real center of it all is this family of three generations of females, their quest to make it in the city of Taipei after living in the countryside and the well-hidden secrets and lies permeating this clan where everyone seems to be hiding something — except maybe young I-Jing, who is most content to traverse the expansive night market or play with her newfound pet meerkat (animal lovers, beware the fate of this particular cast member).
Returning to her own home of Taiwan, filmmaker Shih-Ching is content to create a universally recognizable family unit here with Sho-Fen trying to make it on her own while bringing up the ever-independent I-Ann, who is full of wanderlust and an eye for the boys, while spending much of her time saddled with the responsibility of looking after little sister I-Jing. The film darts back and forth between the stories and struggles of this family who live in a society clearly stressing morals and keeping up proper appearances. The pace is leisurely and atmospheric, and we get to know just who they are. Or so we think, until the film takes a real left-handed turn itself at the 60th birthday celebration of the family matriarch. To put it kindly, all hell breaks loose as those closely-kept secrets start exploding into the open.
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It is at this point that the character-driven tale moves heavily into melodrama territory — a Taiwanese soap opera, as it were — and it is also here that Shih-Ching shows strong command of storytelling and shifting tones with high dramatics that could careen out of control but never do, instead keeping us on the edge of our seats. Baker's tight editing really comes into play here and proves worthy of Douglas Sirk at his height. Ultimately what holds it all together are the strong performances all around. These fine actresses make it entirely watchable.
Producers are Shih-Ching, Baker, Mike Goodridge, Jean Labadie and Alice Labadie.
Title: Left-Handed GirlFestival: Cannes (Critics' Week)Sales agent: Le PacteDirector: Shih-Ching TsouScreenwriters: Shih-Ching-Tsou and Sean BakerCast: Janel Tsai, Shih-Yuan Ma, Nina Ye, Brando HuangRunning time: 1 hr 49 min
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