Left handed Girl will release on Netflix on the 28th of November

No spoilers

21 years has passed since Take Out (2004) – the directorial collaboration between Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou. Since then, Tsou has continued as a producer of Baker’s contemporary offerings up to The Florida Project.

The script for Left-Handed Girl has been gestating since 2010 and the inception of the idea before that during a trip to Taipei by Tsou and Baker. Due to difficulties financing a Mandarin-language film set in Taiwan from the U.S., the project was put on hold until the logistics worked in their favour.

Whilst not quite a change of pace, Taipei offers a change of setting where Tsou has a blank canvas to distill her focus. Well, narrative focus, because Sean Baker is responsible for the editing and this is glaringly obvious with the ragged, off-beat flow. The two apparently have a shared appreciation for highly saturated, wide angle shots of urban creeks. Whether it’s day or night, the fluorescent signs beams down on the characters as to spotlight their struggle.

Debt-collectors and landlords are the returning antagonists from Take Out. In contrast to the isolation of the immigrant experience, Tsou paints the burden of family in an era of transition. With her husband on the verge of death after fleeing from the bailiffs for ten years, Shu Fen confronts the responsibility of repaying funeral costs and settling the lifelong bill. At the same time, she has two girls to feed, a night food stall to run and rent to manage.

The central tension is the same here as it is in Ang Lee’s Eat, Drink, Man Woman (1994) or Edward Yang’s Confucius Confusion (1994) – the cost of self-sufficiency in the age of modernity. This has been the topic of discussion in Taiwanese Cinema for the better part of three decades. Tsou adds her submission into that cannon with a woman’s perspective across generations.

Stylistically, the techniques used depart widely from the Taiwanese staple of staging characters and interactions far from the camera. Instead of the sense of overhearing conversations, there’s a feeling of being a part of the ride. The guerrilla style of filmmaking, (reminiscent of Cinéma vérité) captures the raw dynamism of Tonghua Night Market.

Between the mother, Shu Fen, and the two girls, I-Ann and I-Jing, a natural tension exists. This was established prior to shooting, where bonding between the actors was limited. In the directors own words, ‘Sometimes, the closer we are, the more distant we become. We stop making the effort to be kind; boundaries blur, and we forget how to treat each other gently.’ Each character seems to wait for change in each other and expectations grind to a halt.

This sense of repression is intentionally contrasted with a bright palette and sensory depiction of the everyday. The flow of life feels meandering against a turbulent world of cement and mercury.

The Left-Handed Girl is a film about being true to oneself whilst addressing the conflict this may result it. It’s an attempt to show how to (or how not to) keep a clear head when feeling a whiplash from a shifting society. It’s about trying to find a solution when facing a Confucius Confusion.

Cast: Shih-Yuan Ma (I-Ann), Janel Tsai (Shu-Fen), Nina Ye (I-Jing), Teng-Hui Huang (Johnny)