Didi (15)

Thirteen-year-old Taiwanese American Chris Wang is known affectionately as Didi to his family and friends in 2008 Fremont, California, where he has recently completed middle school. In the long hot summer before he makes the awkward transition to high school, Didi clashes with his mother Chungsing and older sister Vivian, who is poised to leave home for her freshman year at college. During the break, Didi pursues his love of skateboarding and seeks to impress his crush Madi.

LondonNet Film Review

Didi (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Writer-director Sean Wang was Oscar-nominated for his heartwarming 2023 short documentary Nai Nai & Wai Po, which chronicled the day-to-day lives of his two grandmothers during the Covid pandemic in their shared home in Fremont, California. Cultures clash and familial bonds are also cherished in his wonderful debut feature, which draws inspiration from his upbringing to glimpse the messiness of boyhood through the eyes of a 13-year-old Taiwanese American son of immigrant parents…

Set in the summer of 2008 when Facebook surpassed Myspace as the most-visited social media website and Barack Obama was fresh on the campaign trail for the White House, Didi is an unabashed love letter to the topsy-turvy relationship between mothers and their children. Wang’s script elegantly distils the exquisite pain and occasional hard-fought victories of adolescence with wry humour and piercing candour, recalling films such as Stand By Me and Eighth Grade and the TV series My So-Called Life.

Izaac Wang (no relation) perfectly captures the awkwardness, brashness and insecurity of a teenager clumsily navigating the real and online worlds before he has a clear sense of his authentic self. He gels magnificently with veteran Chinese American actress Joan Chen, playing his mother. Their scenes together are deeply moving but never feel contrived or emotionally manipulative.

Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) is known affectionately as Didi (a Mandarin term for “little brother”) to family and friends in Fremont, where he has recently completed middle school. In the long hot summer before he nervously transitions to high school, Didi plays pranks with friends Soup (Aaron Chang) and Fahad (Raul Dial) such as blowing up neighbours’ mailboxes, pursues his love of skateboarding and seeks to impress his classmate crush, Madi (Mahaela Park). He also spars with older sister Vivian (Shirley Chen), who is poised to fly the nest for her freshman year at college.

The one person who supports him unerringly is his mother Chungsing (Joan Chen), who singlehandedly holds down the fort while her husband works overseas. Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua, director Wang’s real-life 86-year-old maternal grandmother), openly criticises daughter-in-law Chungsing’s parenting and insists the children should eat more fruit to improve the regularity of their bowel movements. Tension simmers within the Wang household and youngest member Didi blunders through adolescence, unaware that each embarrassment is an essential part of growing up.

Didi sets itself apart by contemplating the persistent cultural tug of war between east and west for a boy, who is painfully self-conscious about how he looks and whether he will ever fit in. Wang’s semi-autobiographical picture instinctively knows when to trade in gentle comedy to salve a fresh wound, galvanised by Izaac Wang’s unselfconscious, layered lead performance. There is universal truth and relatability in this boy’s life.

– Kim Hu