Writer/director Sean Wang’s narrative feature debut treads the same perilous ground as Mid90s, Eighth Grade, and Thirteen with one notable difference: the immigrant experience. Didi introduces us to Chris (Izaac Wang), a troubled teen getting through summer break before starting high school in Fremont, CA.
Buy Didi Blu-rayChris has friends of all ethnicities, but is so embarrassed by his Taiwanese otherness that he tries to pass himself off as half-Asian when he starts hanging out with a crew of older skaters. He fights with his sister, shuns his mother, chafes against mandated academic preparation, and constantly seems to be getting in trouble. He finds solace in online hangouts, skateparks, and parties, even as he doubts his ability to thrive in his looming high-school experience. Izaac Wang is pitch perfect in the role, skillfully straddling the line between a dangerous delinquent and a redeemable innocent.
Sean Wang piles on the late-aughts references clearly seared in his memory, especially flip phones and the online components of AOL IMs, early YouTube, and MySpace navigation as Chris learns to put those tools to use for information recon and connection with people in his life. It’s especially hilarious when Chris harnesses the power of the Internet to get him quickly up to speed on pressing topics such as how to kiss and how to film skate videos.
Wang touches on the inherent racism in Fremont without making it a social-justice issue, with such matter-of-fact instances as a fist fight starting with Chris’s white opponent taunting him with his eyelids pulled to the sides, or his clearly half-Asian love interest telling him he’s pretty cute…for an Asian guy. Wang isn’t here to preach, but he also doesn’t shy away from telling it like it was, and unfortunately still is.
The hints of racism contribute to Chris pulling away from his identity and his family, especially his long-suffering mother (Joan Chen) who is trying to hold the family together while her husband works in Taiwan. He despises his older sister who is about to leave for college, and barely tolerates his live-in grandma, preferring to hole up in his room when he’s not out on delinquent adventures. And yet, he’s not a bad kid, he’s just struggling to find his place.
The plot is little more than a series of Chris’s unfortunate events, with only the boundaries of summer break to contain them. We experience his first requited crush, his attempts to hang with the older skater boys, and even glimpses of emerging maturity regarding his familial relationships. There’s a sweetness to all of it as Wang relives his early days with fondness, and plenty of laughs at Chris’s relatable missteps, but the principal factor that elevates and glues it all together is the inescapably strong family bonds that surround and protect him despite his resistance. Chen is especially heartwarming as the matriarch attempting to understand her wayward son, always trying to stay positive in spite of his nonsense.
The Blu-ray has a remarkably entertaining making-of short filmed in the style of an old skate video, complete with VHS resolution and fisheye lens. Wang participated in video diary entries the day before filming commenced, throughout the production, and the day after, providing a deep insider look at his state of mind all along the way. We also see the cast and crew at play throughout the shoot, reminding us that the actors are definitely all kids and bursting with creative energy regardless of their shooting schedules. It may have been filmed recently, but the film and short are tangible proof that the more things change, the more they stay the same, at least as far back as the late aughts.
