Sean Wang’s Dìdi is a pretty standard coming-of-age indie dramedy. Think Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade meets Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap. The beats all have the familiarity of films you’ve seen from Rebel Without a Cause to Armageddon Time. Part of the charm in Wang’s film is how little it tries to re-invent the wheel. Our main character, Chris (Izaac Wang), is spending the Summer before high school worrying about girls and trying to find a place to fit in as a first-generation Taiwanese-American. He has friends and family, but they all feel insufficient. It’s 2008, the tail end of the George W. Bush administration but the fiery launch of mainstream internet culture. Chris has AOL Instant Messenger, he posts videos on the nascent form of YouTube, he has accounts with both MySpace and Facebook. He’s at the vanguard of social media, but why does he feel so lonely?
Chris’s sister, Vivian (Shirley Chen), is weeks away from moving from home to start her freshman year at SCSD in Southern California. This makes their mother, Chungsing (Joan Chen), very anxious. Chris’s father still lives in Taiwan, working and making money to send back home. Chungsing has to contend with her husband’s mother, Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua), living with them, casting a constant glare of judgment on every parenting decision she makes. With all his domestic turmoil, Chris’s main concerns are his crush on Madi (Mahaela Park), his roller-coaster relationship with his best friend, Fahad (Raul Dial), and his burgeoning creativity as a skate park videographer. Chris’s life is plagued with adolescent anxieties and insecurities, and his immaturity has some negative effects on his decision making. Approaching the meat of his teenaged years, he’ll do anything to feel like he belongs, including alienating those who love him most.
Last year, Sean Wang got an Oscar nomination for his short documentary about his two grandmothers, Nai Nai and Wai Po. That film was sweet but twee, where Dìdi is a film made with precise and thoughtful character study. (You may recognize Chang Li Hua from the short doc as the real life Nai Nai.) Where Dìdi really separates itself is with the character of Chungsing. This character – and Chen’s incredible performance of her – is explored fully without ever taking anything away from Chris’s journey. Her own hopes and dreams as an artist, dashed by the burdens of motherhood and domesticity, still percolate lightly under the surface, adding context to her own cautiousness with her two caustic children. It’s truly remarkable work from Chen, a veteran actress who has seldom been been given a role this enriching in an American film.
Even at 91 minutes, there are moments where Dìdi drags to fill its running time, but Wang expertly recreates the 2008 setting in a way that is both blithely nostalgic while still being open to the harsh realities. Apart from Chen, the performances from all the kids (lead obviously by Izaac Wang, whose dramatic chops and comedic timing are on full display) are terrific, naturalistic, and genuinely charming. The sibling dynamic created between Chris and Vivien feels authentic, with Izaac Wang and Shirley Chen’s chemistry being a constant mix of fury and attachment. Sean Wang’s direction, influenced by the likes of Spike Jonze (who makes a cameo voice performance), feels exciting if not exactly original. You get the sense he is still digging for his voice while exploring his past. Again, none of this is anything new, but Dìdi is a very entertaining movie.
Written and Directed by Sean Wang