Left-Handed Girl is a compelling family dramedy that premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is now available globally on Netflix as of November 28, 2025. Directed by Taiwanese-American filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou in her solo directorial debut, the film represents a significant milestone in her career and marks a bold statement of her creative vision.
The film follows a single mother, Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), and her two daughters, twenty-year-old I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma) and five-year-old I-Jing (Nina Ye), as they return to Taipei after years of living in the countryside. They establish a noodle stall in a bustling night market, where each family member must adapt to their new environment while struggling to maintain their bonds. The story takes a poignant turn when the family’s traditional grandfather forbids the youngest daughter from using her left hand, calling it her “devil hand,” a superstition rooted in generational beliefs. This prohibition becomes a catalyst for unraveling deep-seated family secrets and generational tensions.
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Tsou co-wrote the screenplay with acclaimed filmmaker Sean Baker, whose influence permeates the film through both its writing and editing. Baker, a recent four-time Oscar winner, serves as co-writer, producer, and editor, and the collaboration extends two decades of artistic partnership between the two filmmakers. Their shared sensibility focuses on characters living on society’s margins, struggling against systems that prioritize productivity over human dignity.
Left-Handed Girl Soundtrack – Additional Songs
- 姊台妹 – 頑童 MJ116
- Rise and Shine – 小男孩樂團 (Men Envy Children / MEC Band)
- Umbrella Represents My Heart – Yi-Jun Li
- Willing to Live for You – Rong-Hong Hong
- Turn Your Back – Shi-Xian Wang
- Tick-Tock – Xiu Lan Ma Ya
- On My Mom – Qiu-Feng Cai
- An Inch of True Heart – Fu-Kai Xu
- Practice Dance – Jin-Yan Xie
- No Heaven for Love – Bai-Tan Chen
- Last Night’s Rain – Rong Li
- Beautiful Girl – Xiu Lan Ma Ya
- Give Me a Few Seconds – Qiu-Feng Cai
- Half – Fu-Kai Xu
- Love Hurts – Kai-Xin Chen
- Sweet Life – Bai-Tan Chen
- True Flavor – Wen-Bin Shi
- Pure Love Creation – Yong-Bin Wu
- OH OH OH – Si-Jia Wang
- Cheers – 蛋頭 Egghead & BG8LOCC & STACO
- Devil – JINBO
- Break Down – JINBO
- Sin Eater – JINBO
- Yoo-Hoo – JINBO
- Moonlight – Sukino
- Don’t Mind – CED 柯郁
- Quarantine – Albert
- Ouch Potato – Bleeding Fingers
Filmed using verité filmmaking techniques in real Taipei locations with a minimal crew and nonprofessional actors, Left-Handed Girl songs captures an authenticity that resonates throughout every frame. The film’s commitment to natural exposition and lived-in performances creates characters that feel as if they’ve always existed beyond the screen. Critics have praised it as one of 2025’s most confident solo directorial debuts, with performances described as carrying emotional authenticity rarely seen in contemporary cinema.
The film tackles profound themes of cultural expectations, generational trauma, and class struggle, particularly through the lens of working-class women navigating poverty and family obligation in modern Taiwan. It explores the conflict between what we reveal to others and what we keep hidden, examining how shame and self-preservation shape family relationships. Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture submitted Left-Handed Girl as the country’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards.