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‘Left-Handed Girl’ takes on quiet shame across generations in Taipei

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‘Left-Handed Girl’ takes on quiet shame across generations in Taipei

Shih-Yuan Ma as I-Ann, Nina Ye as I-Jing and Janel Tsai as Shu-Fen in Left-Handed Girl. The movie is streaming on Netflix starting Friday.

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Early on in Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, one of its protagonists, an adorable Taiwanese girl named I-Jing (Nina Ye), is told by her grandpa that her left-handedness is a curse. “Don’t use left-hand in my house,” he says to her, yanking a crayon from her left hand into her right and sending a bolt of fear through the impressionable 5-year-old. “Left hand is evil,” he scolds. “It belongs to the devil.” The premise of Netflix’s newest Mandarin-language film might seem trivial, but learning about her “devil’s hand” brings I-Jing a quiet shame that is difficult to shake. Internalizing an age-old superstition, I-Jing silently begins to navigate the bustling city of Taipei with her much weaker right-hand, which takes on a life of its own. What she doesn’t know is that the rest of her family has their own version of a “devil’s hand” too.

In Tsou’s charming solo directorial debut, I-Jing, her teenage sister and their mother have just moved back to Taipei after years away in the countryside. Their mother Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), opens a noodle stand in the capital’s famous night markets in an attempt to start a new life for her family. But a fresh start is rarely an easy one. Day after day, Shu-Fen toils to keep her food stall and family afloat — trying to pay the stall’s rent while juggling the debt she accumulated from her ex-husband’s funeral, and taking care of her daughters, who couldn’t be more different. The youngest, I-Jing, is steeped in an innocent earnestness, while her older sister, I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma), carries the fierce determination of an angsty teen intent on proving she can support the family better than anyone else.

Tsou and longtime collaborator Sean Baker co-wrote and produced the project, and Baker edited. Their distinct style is abundant throughout Left-Handed Girl, which strikes a delicate balance between intimacy and playfulness in a story that centers those historically on the margins. The two have worked side-by-side since co-directing Take Out in 2004, with Tsou’s influence woven through films that launched Baker into the spotlight, from Tangerine to The Florida Project to Red Rocket. Shot entirely on iPhones, like 2015’s Tangerine, the film uses the city of Taipei as its canvas and shows its landscape through the lens of each of its characters. It’s a treat being immersed in the brightly-colored, and often overwhelming night market from the point of view of I-Jing, who interacts with each stall like it’s her personal playground before dashing off to the next one.

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Nina Ye as I-Jing and Shih-Yuan Ma as I-Ann in Left-Handed Girl.

Nina Ye as I-Jing and Shih-Yuan Ma as I-Ann in Left-Handed Girl.

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Shih-Yuan Ma as I-Ann, Nina Ye as I-Jing and Janel Tsai as Shu-Fen in Left-Handed Girl.

Shih-Yuan Ma as I-Ann, Nina Ye as I-Jing and Janel Tsai as Shu-Fen in Left-Handed Girl.

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While Left-Handed Girl initially appears to center I-Jing and her cursed hand, the film pays equal attention to its female protagonists. Spanning multiple generations, Tsou offers the viewer a window into each character’s struggle between duty and desire, as they navigate a society where the personal largely remains private. Shu-Fen might be the caretaker of her three-unit family, but she remains the black sheep within her own. “A married daughter’s like water poured out,” her mother says to her after refusing to lend her daughter money, perpetuating a traditional belief that daughters are worthless once they are married. And during a family outing, Shu-Fen reluctantly opens up, only to have her sisters loudly bicker over her decisions as if they were their own.

Meanwhile, I-Ann spends most of her days at the betel nut stall, where she oscillates between flirting with older men for money, making snarky comments at the attractive young woman who just started working there, and sleeping with her sleazy boss. I-Ann’s stonewalled expression and high-pony attitude gives off the impression she doesn’t care about the job, and much less, her boss. But in moments of vulnerability, like after I-Ann attends a party with a former classmate who, unlike her, is attending college, cracks begin to appear in an otherwise tightly-wound facade. I-Ann’s commitment to and reluctance toward fulfilling her responsibilities are felt simultaneously in scenes of transit, as she whizzes through the streets and highways of Taipei on her scooter, en route to pick up her little sister, keep a watchful eye over the noodle stand, or sneak in her own small rebellions. I-Ann might scoff, but at the end of the day, she always shows up.

How much can a family bear before it begins to burst? Left-Handed Girl seeks to ask, as each character’s internal tensions bleed into broader family dynamics, culminating in more of an explosion than a slow unraveling. But perhaps the ultimate test of strength occurs when the dam breaks, Tsou seems to argue — when the water begins to flood, washing away old traditions and instead, creating something surprising and new.

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Photos: 2026 Golden Globes Red Carpet

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Photos: 2026 Golden Globes Red Carpet

Ariana Grande arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

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The brightest stars in TV and film kicked off the 83rd annual Golden Globes tonight in Beverly Hills, Calif. with Ariana Grande, Noah Wyle, Teyana Taylor and George Clooney are just some the names who walked the red carpet. This year’s ceremony was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser.

Here’s a glimpse of what some of the attendees are wearing tonight.

Michael B. Jordan arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

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Nikki Glaser Wears ‘Spinal Tap’ Hat to Tribute Rob Reiner at Golden Globes

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Nikki Glaser Wears ‘Spinal Tap’ Hat to Tribute Rob Reiner at Golden Globes

2026 Golden Globes
Nikki Glaser Shouts Out Rob Reiner …
Dons ‘Spinal Tap’ Hat at Close of Show

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Sunday Puzzle: Pet theory

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Sunday Puzzle: Pet theory

On-air challenge

Today’s puzzle is called “Pet Theory.” Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word start starts PE- and the second word starts T-. (Ex. What walkways at intersections carry  –>  PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC)

1. Chart that lists all the chemical elements

2. Place for a partridge in “The 12 Days of Christmas”

3. Male voyeur

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4. What a coach gives a team during halftime in the locker room

5. Set of questions designed to reveal your traits

6. Something combatants sign to end a war

7. Someone who works with you one-on-one with physical exercises

8. Member of the Who

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9. Incisors, canines, and premolars that grow in after you’re a baby

10. Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score this at the Olympics

11. What holds the fuel in a British car

Last week’s challenge

Last week’s challenge was a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago.  Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.

Challenge answer

12 × 34 × 5 – 6 – 7 + 8 – 9 [or] 1 + 2 + 345 × 6 – 7 × 8 + 9

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Winner

Daniel Abramson of Albuquerque, N.M.

This week’s challenge

This week’s challenge comes from listener Ward Hartenstein. Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____.

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 15 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

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