Busy ‘Left-Handed Girl’ keeps you at arm’s length
More notable for its filmmaking style than its rote narrative, the contemplative “Left-Handed Girl” unfolds as if it had sprung from the Sean Baker archives. Shot on an iPhone like his breakthrough, “Tangerine,” and told through the eyes of a fatherless young girl, a la 2017’s “The Florida Project,” it hits on all the familiar Baker themes of cash-strapped folks living on the edge.
So it’s little surprise to learn that “Left-Handed Girl” was co-written and edited by Baker, working in conjunction with his longtime producing partner, Shin-Ching Tsou, sitting in the director’s chair for the first time since co-helming Baker’s 2004 debut, “Take Out.” Aside from relocating from the U.S. to Taiwan, “Left-Handed Girl” looks and feels very much like a Baker film, from its propulsive staccato editing to its strong sense of place.
In this instance, Taipei’s bustling night market, where the sights and sounds border on sensory overload. It is here that Shu Fen (Janel Tsai) seeks to begin a new life with her rebellious firstborn, I-Ann (Shin-Yuan Ma), and impressionable 5-year-old, I-Jing (the remarkable Nina Ye), the movie’s titular southpaw. Despite barely a dollar to her name, Shu Fen opens a noodle shop in the bustling agora, hoping to make a go of it.
Natch, things don’t go as planned, further fracturing her already shaky relationship with I-Jing and especially I-Ann, an adolescent who despises her mom’s slavish devotion to the “old ways.” Like footing the entire bill for her ex-husband’s funeral, even though he brought her nothing but heartbreak. The expense has rendered Shu Fen virtually penniless and under threat of eviction from the marketplace. If you think her middle-class parents (Akio Chen and Xin-Yan Chao) will chip in to help out, think again. Their money reserves are exclusively earmarked for Shu Fen’s brother, in keeping with Taiwan’s chauvinistic culture. But there is a willing benefactor in the form of a smitten Johnny (Brando Haung), the proprietor of the gadget shop in the neighboring booth. But Shu Fen is stubbornly determined to make it on her own.
Yes, there exists an unmistakable Jane Austen vibe, right down to the gallows humor. There’s even a climactic ball in which Shu Fen’s Mr. Darcy arrives unexpectedly on the scene, just in time for an 11th-hour, melodramatic twist that, somewhat fittingly, was yanked straight out of “Chinatown.” It’s so cheesy it nearly sinks the movie, as well as Nina Ye’s endearing turn as I-Jing.
The story is largely told from her pint-sized perspective, and as such, is shot at a child’s eye level, just like in “The Florida Project.” But that’s where the similarities end. Where the latter was pulse-pounding and affecting, “Left-Handed Girl” deals largely in coming-of-age cliches. Still, it’s impossible not to form a bit of a connection with I-Jing, as circumstances often leave her to her devices while Mom and Sis deal with their own mounting issues.
This allows cinematographers Ko-Chin Chen and Tzu-Hao Kao to trail I-Jing breathlessly through the colorful locales, generating a combination of fear and wonder. The payoff is meager, but it’s terrific to watch, although recurring shots of I-Jing and I-Ann atop a Vespa, racing through the streets of Taipei, are obviously green-screened. Yet, the subtle critiques of sexist Asian culture come through loud and clear, most wrenchingly in Grandpa’s demonizing of I-Ping’s left-handedness to the point the child contemplates taking a cleaver to her wrist, ironically, with her right hand.
Like that implement, the performances are all sharp. But the storytelling is often shallow and incomplete, with I-Ann and Shu Fen’s arcs only distracting from the more interesting one involving I-Ping. Baker’s editing, while effective, leaves the impression that key scenes have been truncated or cut out entirely in service of aesthetics over content. What’s here is no doubt entertaining, but as hard as Shin-Ching tries, her “Left” is at a loss to get everything right.
Movie review
Left-Handed Girl
Rated: R for sexual content and language
Cast: Nina Ye, Janel Tsai, Shih-Yuan Ma, Brando Huang, Akio Chen and Xin-Yan Chao
Director: Shin-Ching Tsou
Writers: Shin-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker
Runtime: 108 minutes
Where: Currently in theaters (limited) before debuting on Netflix on Nov. 28
Grade: B-
