(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.
Didi is a teenaged boy growing up in two cultures, Taiwanese and American. As soon as he walks in the door to his house, his mother and grandmother are there as gatekeepers of his heritage. Neither his perfect English nor his diverse friends can erase his bicultural life in Freemont, California.
Synopsis: In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.
Didi Sundance Award Winner
Making things worse for the angst riddled boy is that he doesn’t get along with his older sister Vivian. The siblings’ arguments are witnessed by their grandmother, who is also increasingly frustrated with her daughter-in-law’s lack of traditional parenting. The chaos of clashing cultures is reaching a boiling point within the family and no one know what to do.
As a parent of two first generation kids, I understood the mother’s dilemma about how much to discipline and how much freedom to give them especially regarding respect for elders. The disrespect between child and parent was hard to see in this movie. At times, Didi behaved like a brat, but other times we felt compassion for his situation.
Among the depictions of the time, many will identify with these; Myspace, the beginnings of Facebook, butterfly hair clips, lip gloss, analog flip phones, and skate boarding. These were the main pass times in the early 2000s. My own children were about the same age as Didi in 2008; my daughter was in middle school, and my oldest son was also getting ready to leave for college.
In this turbulent year, Didi lost all his friends as a result of his bad temper and bad decisions. Trying to fit in with different groups of people, coupled with their rejection and betrayal, was more than he could take. After his sister left for college he was truly on his own.
Except for the one person who stood by him through it all, his mom.
One scene struck a chord with me. After Didi returns home late one night, he goes to his mother’s room and asks her if she is ashamed of him. Instead of simply saying no, she tells him about her unrealized dream to become a painter. That all changed when she got married, and her two children became her dream. So, there’s no way she could be ashamed of him since he is her dream.
The movie won the Sundance Audience Choice Award in 2024, and I can see why. If you go see Didi, and I hope you will, you might also see your life reflected in this film, whether you were the teen or the parent at that time.
Rated R
Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes
Written and Directed By: Sean Wang
Cast: Izaac Wang, Shirley Chen, Chang Li Hua, Raul Dial, Aaron Chang, Mahaela Park, Chiron Cilia Denk, Montay Boseman, Sunil Mukherjee Maurillo, Alaysia Simmons, Alysha Syed, Georgie August and Joan Chen
Producers: Carlos López Estrada, Josh Peters, Valerie Bush, Sean Wang
Executive Producers: Dave A. Liu, Jennifer J. Pritzker, Chris Columbus, Eleanor Columbus, Robina Riccitiello, Joan Chen, Chris Quintos Cathcart and Tyler Boehm
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