Films chronicling formulate summers before high school where it seems the world can be destroyed and rebuilt again in just a two-and-a-half month span are aplenty. In saying that, you have to admire how honed in Sean Wang’s directorial debut, ‘DÌDI,’ is with making the late 2000s teen experience feel so authentic. We are talking about the dawn of Facebook, the sting of how it felt to see a friend take you out of their top eight on Myspace, flip phones, and the feeble beginnings of YouTube, where the film begins. It’s shaky camcorder footage of Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) and his friends creating mischief and blowing up some poor lady’s mailbox. Why would somebody upload this to a public channel? Well, because there was a reckless naivety that came with this new car smell of social connectivity.
With carefree fashion, ‘Didi’ starts hitched to the carefree days of summer. However, uncertainty leans over the corner as freshman year of high school awaits Chris. There’s the uneasy biology of starting puberty and trying to carve out an identity for yourself when the insulation of middle school falls away. Do you know yourself as well as you think you do? Will the friends you had for ages remain that way as life starts to tug at you with different possibilities? Sean Wang tackles all of these things touching on a newer piece of nostalgia while also branching to tell the story of other generations within this coming-of-age tale.
(L to R) Izaac Wang as “Chris Wang”, Chang Li Hua as “Nai Nai”, Joan Chen as “Chungsing Wang”, and Shirley Chen as “Vivian Wang” in writer/director Sean Wang’s DÌDI, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / Talking Fish Pictures, LLC. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
In reality, Chris has a clue that he wants to make videos in some way, shape, or form—the inspiration comes from starting a YouTube account to record his and his friends’ adventures. But at home, Chris’s mother, Chungsing (Joan Chen), calls him Didi, and they live with his older sister, Vivian (Shirley Chen), and their paternal grandmother, Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua). To say things are tense inside this California home would be an understatement. Chris and Vivian are at each other’s throats, hurling insults at each other while he steals her band t-shirts and hoodies. Chungsing tries to keep the household together as best as possible while her husband is in Taiwan on business, and Nai Nai..well, she often disapproves of Chungsing’s parental style and voices it boisterously.
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It’s a household on a precipice of a lot of change, with Vivian soon to depart for college. To pass the time, Chris is either watching CKY-style skateboard clips, trying to make some of his own, or goofing off with his best friends Fahad (Raul Dial) and Jimmy (Aaron Chang). Fahad and Jimmy have more outgoing personalities that can command people’s attention. Chris is shy and still trying to find a way to stand out from the “little brother” friend role. While doing their usual shenanigans, we discover that Chris has a crush on a girl named Madi (Mahaela Park).
There’s a typical teenage ribbing from his friends, but despite his awkwardness, Madi tells Chris they should be Facebook friends (remember when that was a big thing?) In trying to impress, there are some hilarious moments Wang allows us to sit with as Chris looks through her likes to mimic her favorite music and movies he hasn’t seen to connect with her. Those little touches make ‘Didi’ feel so alive, in addition to adding Fahad’s name as a best friend security question. It might as well have been an omen of things to come.
(L to R) Joan Chen as “Chungsing Wang” and Izaac Wang as “Chris Wang” in writer/director Sean Wang’s DÌDI, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / Talking Fish Pictures LLC © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
The thing is, being a teenager is messy, uncomfortable, exhilarating, and painful. Every ounce of failure feels like a volcano erupting, and embarrassment (big or small) is the world’s end. A somewhat awkward end of a date with Madi puts Chris on a snowball path to make things worse. But you feel for him and the way Izaac Wang plays this character because in creating pitfalls in a way to discovering where you want to go. Sometimes, it’s temporarily going to another friend group like Chris does or realizing the importance of your big sister as she’s leaving, taking a big step in her life. It’s believable and enduring trial and error.
Sean Wang doesn’t reserve all of the spotlight just for Chris’s character; instead, he widens the lens to give Joan Chen space for her beautiful portrayal of Chungsing. She’s a mother who is seeing her children grow up and is on the receiving end of misplaced angst from her “stubborn” son and daughter. Chungsing is trying to find her sense of self, retreating to painting portraits of memories when times were simpler. Chris and Chungsing exist within cultural expectations, which aren’t easy to navigate, but both have to find a way through together.
It’s nice when Chungsing cautions Chris not to skate right after eating or trying to show interest in what could be a budding career for him. Teenagers are often dismissive of that stuff, but you hope they come around at some point because nothing is forever. Nothing is set in stone once you reach ‘DÌDI’s’ conclusion, which is one of its best parts. This is one of many transformative summers for Chris to come. Maybe this time, you don’t get the girl; your friends are scattered, thus making fertile ground to foster new connections in places you overlooked. But it’s all needed and essential all the same.
