Girl
Growing up in 1980s Taiwan, the quiet, curious Hsiao-Lee navigates her desires and aspirations while taking care of her younger sister and enduring hardship at home. Her deadbeat father comes home every night drunk and violent; her mother, bearing the brunt of his violence, struggles to properly care for Hsiao-Lee. When the carefree Li-Li is transferred to her school, the two become friends, opening Hsiao-Lee to a world of possibility and a journey of growth.
Screen icon Shu Qi, a regular in the films of Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien, draws on her own childhood to craft her directorial debut, a coming-of-age tale as devastating as it is sensitive to the pains of growing up in a troubled household and the innocence of a young girl longing for freedom. Flushed with soft hues and aesthetics dreamy and harsh, Girl is a deeply personal story of womanhood in the face of trauma and hurt, growth and reconciliation.
