Didi (2024)

 

Celebrated Taiwanese American director Sean Wang's first feature, Dìdi, is his personal reflection on a familiar cinematic theme -- budding-teen-ager angst -- set against an Asian immigrant backdrop of cultural identity and assimilation in Fremont, California. Seventeen-year-old Izaac Wang plays Sean's alter ego, Chris, called "Wang-Wang" by his "friends," "Dìdi" by his mother and grandmother (Joan Chen and Zhang Li Hua, respectively), and all manner of vile creature by sister Vivian (Shirley Chen). It's 2008, and we see the somber, hooded Chris at the family table where the hectoring is endless and at school where a different sort of hectoring goes on. He is dreading the transition to high school, even though mates Faud (Raul Dial) and Soup (Aaron Chang), who turned junior high into their own miscreant playground, are eager to make the move and expand their territory. The film does not connect the emotional and psychological dots that make up Chris's profile, leaving the audience to weigh how much an absent father and bickering elders contribute to the kid's painful lack of confidence. The move to college that sister Vivian is preparing for seems remote and entrance examinations pointless. Chris finds some joy through his video camera and posts shaky scenes of his friends' stunts on YouTube. When he sees a group of boys skating, a skill he has yet to master even though he carries his board around with him, he poses as a "filmer" and agrees to shoot some scenes for them so that they can get sponsors. The scheme doesn't work out and hard lessons are learned. Chris Wang's drive to be accepted is overshadowed by a more basic need -- to be seen, which is ironic considering how often he hides from others. When Dìdi feels shame, he disappears, erasing the evidence of his existence, be it YouTube videos or chatroom exchanges. At 30, Sean Wang captures the raging, impulsive, profane swagger of early adolescence, when high school freshmen are flex, fight or fondle 24/7. We cringe for young Chris's missteps but a scene between him and his mother paints in some important details and the picture's last frame glows with hope.