The Reel Review
A shy and impressionable Taiwanese-American 13-year-old in the San Francisco Bay Area finds himself on a painful journey of self-discovery during the summer of 2008, just before he is to start high school and his older sister is to leave home for college. Isaac Wang, Joan Chen and Shirley Chen star in this coming-of-age teen dramedy.
Set to a surprisingly accurate backdrop of AOL chat rooms, camcorders, skateboards and late-era MySpace and early-era Facebook accounts, writer/director Sean Wang mines his own personal childhood in his feature film debut, exploring such complex themes as racial identity, belonging, and self-esteem – all under the backdrop of rapidly evolving social media. He does not shy away from some of the truly offensive micro aggressions endured by Asian Americans. Friendships and crushes come and go, as young Isaac Wang channels Dìdi’s inner rage at not feeling included by his would-be friends, unaware, at least until they point it out, that it is his own behavior that is getting in his way.
The film is peppered with sweet nostalgic moments from a terrific ensemble cast – among them, Joan Chen’s nuanced soliloquy about how her own career hopes and dreams to be a painter were dashed by marriage and motherhood, Shirley Chen (Quiz Lady), as his older sister whose prickly attitude towards Dìdi softens when she discovers how lonely he is and Zhang Li Hua as his opinionated but well-meaning grandmother. Despite some slow pacing in its midsection, Dìdi is a winner.
REEL FACTS
• Dìdi won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
• Zhang Li Hua, the actress who plays grandma Nai Nai, is writer/director Sean Wang’s real-life grandmother. She previously co-starred in his Oscar-nominated 2023 documentary short Nai Nai & Wài Pó, about his two grandmas.
• Joan Chen (A Murder at the End of the World) is best known for her performances in the Oscar-winning 1987 film The Last Emperor and the Twin Peaks TV series and films.
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