Left-Handed Girl (2025) review

Single mother Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) takes her two daughters, troublesome young adult I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma) and tiny I-Jing (Nina Ye), to Taipei in order to start a noodle shop in the busy night district, except all three of them experience difficulties: Shu-Fen has trouble paying the rent (because she paid for her ex's funeral), I-Ann is impregnated by her boss (who runs a betel nut store) and I-Jing, a southpaw, is told by her superstitious grandfather that that's the hand of the Devil and she should only use her right hand to eat and color ... so she robs local vendors of small trinkets with her little demonic claw.  Although it's missing some much-needed dramatic weight - and when it does come at a birthday party, it feels quite out-of-place - this is a sweet little family movie that does a fine job capturing the bustling nightlife of the city, with the neon lights bathing the inhabitants with a warm glow, and I naturally gravitate to stories about blue collar workers.  Way back in 2004, Tsou co-directed Take Out with Sean Baker, and he offers assistance here by acting as producer, co-screenwriter and editor, and although the steady pacing can be attributed to him, clearly this is Tsou's love letter to her birth nation ... and because the Dogme 95 movement is an inspiration for her, the Maury Povich-like 'shocking reveal' is a clearly nod to Vinterberg's The Celebration.  But most importantly, rest in peace GooGoo: you were too good for this rotting world.