DIDI |
★★★★☆
7 July 2024
A movie review of DIDI.
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Director: Sean Wang.
Starring: Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, Zhang Li Hua, Mahaela Park, Raul Dial.
“Nobody likes you,” Vivian (Shirley Chen)
DIDI opens on a practical joke by a bunch of kids blowing-up a letter box (no injuries to anyone) and running off while recording. The pure joy on the lead’s face is never seen again for the rest of the film. This is a coming-of-age movie evolving from the funny to the cringe to the poignant. The tonal shifts are invisible. Writer-director Sean Wang is a talent to watch. I would love to know how much of DIDI is autobiographical.
Starring: Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, Zhang Li Hua, Mahaela Park, Raul Dial.
“Nobody likes you,” Vivian (Shirley Chen)
DIDI opens on a practical joke by a bunch of kids blowing-up a letter box (no injuries to anyone) and running off while recording. The pure joy on the lead’s face is never seen again for the rest of the film. This is a coming-of-age movie evolving from the funny to the cringe to the poignant. The tonal shifts are invisible. Writer-director Sean Wang is a talent to watch. I would love to know how much of DIDI is autobiographical.
Summer 2008, July, California, the focus is 13-year-old Taiwanese-American Chris Wang (Izaac Wang). Also known as Wang Wang to his friends and Didi to his family. These nicknames show the affection he was once held. The Chris we witness over the runtime, however, is not likable in a very human way. Chris manufactures awkwardness on an industrial scale.
Is the growing pains movie genre akin to the war film? Being a teenager is often portrayed as navigating a perpetual conflict zone. Adolescence as nightmare – with not enough life experience and freedom to put experiences in perspective. DIDI contains emotional bloodshed, with words causing casualties. Add in being a second-generation immigrant, and the theatre of conflict increases exponentially. Fortunately, there is quiet hope by the denouement, and thankfully no fatalities.
Chris is surrounded by three women in his home, yet he finds it so difficult to converse with girls his own age. Immediately a dinner scene economically lays out his family dynamic. Chris’s older sister, Vivian, is about to head to university. They are at constant loggerheads, bickering to almost shrill levels. Vivian later realises the damage her brusqueness inflicts. Vivian’s change towards her brother is welcome and touching, as she realises the error of not taking the higher ground. Early on there isn’t yet affection, but Chris clearly looks up to Vivian by stealing her clothes and wearing them.
Chris’s mother, Chungsing (Joan Chen), should intervene, referee, placate, but we later find out how her ego has been beaten down. A loving mother’s lot is to be assailed from all sides. (The military genre analogy could also be applied to being a mum.) Chungsing is caught up in her own problems. This is not the way she wanted her life to turn out: effectively a single mother, lonely, and her dreams of being a painter not materialising. Chungsing is not perfect, but who is? Chris’s father is working in Taiwan and is not seen throughout the whole film, not even to see Vivian off to college.
Also at the table is Chris’s grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua), on his father’s side. Nai Nai is adorable in several ways. When Chris tries to film her on his camcorder, Nai Nai avoids the lens saying how ugly she is. The heart aches for such a sentiment. She is not hideous; in fact, she looks sweet. Nai Nai is so loving to her grandchildren, but mercilessly belligerent to her daughter-in-law. There is little respite for Chungsing from Nai Nai’s sharp criticisms of her parenting. Never said out loud, it appears that Nai Nai takes out her son’s absence (abandonment) on Chungsing. DIDI has a strong theme of self-loathing.
Don’t worry, the tone isn’t dour, DIDI has so many amusing touches. (At one point SUPERBAD [2007] is being watched on the TV, as an interesting compare and contrast. DIDI is far more layered.)
As Chris leaves behind security and innocence, he is now entering the minefield of finding out who he is and how to interact meaningfully. He has deep insecurity. Where does that insecurity come from? The film begs the question: is having a mediocre father present better than an absent one? At least you have something to measure yourself against, someone to rail against, someone to show how it’s not supposed to be done. Chris has no male role model. Is that an excuse or an explanation or both?
Fahad (Raul Dial), his best friend, says harshly (but true) that Chris has no game. As uncomfortable encounter repeatedly follows humiliating encounter, the audience shifts in their seats in embarrassment at Chris’s words and behaviour, willing him to be honest with himself and others. DIDI is empathetic and compassionate and humorous and clear-eyed, without offering simple solutions. The performances are universally top-tier, with a wonderful cast diversity. The tagline for DIDI is spot on: For anyone who’s ever been a teenager.
