Didi

Rating: 8.7 Overall, a very good coming-of-age drama that accurately portrays the struggles of an Asian American adolescent trying to find himself, carried out by authentic, yet humorous writing and a powerful performance from Joan Chen.

Very Good Direction (The direction on a macroscale is very good as they set the area and time-period very well (2000s, Bay Area); the direction on a microscale is great as you see how the characters' emotions and relationships change in the interpersonal scenes, and this might be one of the most accurate portrayals of Asian American adolescence I have seen; the direction of actors is very good as it feels like everyone's performance is elevated; the storytelling is very good as it tells a coming-of-age story through both the Asian-American lens and the lens from someone who grew up in the 2000s), Good to Very Good Acting (Good to Very Good from Izaac Wang (Shows a wide range of emotions as you can see how he changes his personality to fit in, all while being incredibly anxious/feeling lost), Very Good to Great from Joan Chen (Delivers a very powerful performance as the matriarch in the family as she tries her best to hold the family together while also trying to pursue her own passions; her final monologue is truly Oscar worthy as it comes second to Ellen Burstyn's Red Dress monologue in how emotional and well executed it is), Good from the rest of the cast (Really emulates the time-period and adolescence)), Good to Very Good Story (The concept is simple and self-explanatory as it is an Asian-American, coming-of-age story set in 2000s Fremont; the plot structure is pretty simple (short and to the point); flow between sequences is very good; the character writing is great as you really get a grasp of what each character in the family is going through (especially the protagonist and the mother)), Great Screenplay (The dialogue is great as it mimics the time-period/location/age of the characters; the Cantonese dialogue is used very well as it helps show the identity of the family and show this dichotomy of being an Asian American in that time-period; the emotional dialogue is very powerful as it invokes a lot of strong emotions in both the cast and the audience; the humor is very true to the time and well written; the symbolism is very powerful as it realistically shows Asian-American Identity and adolescence; the foreshadowing is pretty standard for a coming-of-age story), Pretty Good to Good Score (Helps with establishing the tone, especially in the more depressing scenes), Good Cinematography (Enjoyed the how they interweaved 2000s camcorder shots in with the standard shots, and I felt the more large scale shots did a good job at showing the emotions of the characters (especially the protagonist)), Very Good Editing (Feels very polished and interjects the message/social-media scenes very well), , Pretty Bad Visual Effects (Feels pretty tacky and out of place), Good Production Design (Did a good job in emulating 2000s Fremont, CA), Pacing is pretty fast as it tries to go through a decent amount in its short runtime (but there really could not have been any more runtime that could've been added), Climax is executed very well as it is the epiphany/lowest for the protagonist and displays an incredible monologue from the mother (showing her identity in relation to her family and personal ambitions), Tone feels like a coming-of-age movie set in 2000s Bay Area (and executes this very well), Saw the Texas Premiere at SXSW.

Watched this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

Sean Wang perfectly captures the drama, cringe comedy of teenage life, and the Asian American culture with tender sweet performances, good camerawork, and fun characters to explore. Wang's direction on the humor aspects, character personalities and writing felt genuine to the setting and many of the themes on culture, friendship, growing up, and reality is well-handled with the maturity of the direction and writing.

There are uses of 2000's internet culture and media that felt strong and interesting and it is clear that Wang understands how internet culture works and how children are able to act. Because many of the child performances are good and Issac Wang is the star stealer of the entire movie, alongside with Joan Chen.

As someone who is Asian American, many of the themes, culture approaches and the characters were emotionally interesting and it felt purposeful and touching. I personally connected with the characters and what Wang was trying to tell. The humor is good as well.

Some small gripes are that I felt some of the lightening could be better in certain nighttime settings and some of the dialogue could be improved. Overall, this could have turned into a cheesy and annoying movie but with Wang's direction and writing, it becomes a thought-provoking yet tender sweet coming of age movie.

I am not Asian. I did not grow up in the 2000s. And yet, I absolutely related to this film and its protagonist. Because we've all navigated that awkward in between stage. Friendships change and feelings get hurt and moments feel way bigger than they actually are. Sean Wang managed to tell a story that evokes a particular moment and is timeless all at once. It helps that his actors (especially Izaac Wang and Joan Chen) feel familiar and real. Throughout this story I could feel the cringes and the hugs...and I could hear the inner monologues too. I have no desire to go back to being a freshman in high school, but if I did? It would look and feel a lot like this.

This was a pleasant surprise. "Dídi" is a wonderful little indie film that more than delivers on the potential of its coming of age premise, and breaks new ground for the genre by finding unique ways to develop its characters.

The film offers an honest and touching look inside the life of a young Taiwanese-American teen as he navigates the awkward turbulences and heartbreaks of adolescence. As the film progresses, Chris, the young central character, ventures to discover himself and find his place in the world. We watch as he grows up and is forced to learn many of life's universal lessons, all while charting his own unique course through youth.

It's a familiar premise, but Sean Wang does something new and special with it, straying from the formula and imbuing the whole thing with subtle touches of realism, many of which I've never seen captured quite the same way in film before (HBO's Euphoria has a few moments which are comparable, but they're far more sensationalized than anything here). I really appreciated these novelties, as well as the film's frequently experimental approach/style, as they helped make things feel consistently fresh and new. Also, the fact that the timeline of Chris' childhood happens to line up almost exactly with my own made the whole thing especially enjoyable. They captured growing up in the 2000s perfectly.

I could definitely see this becoming a breakout hit, and to be honest, it may be the best film I've seen at a Sundance premiere (admittedly a limited selection, but I am from Utah, so I try to make it to the festival every few years). In any event, I'm looking forward to watching this again once it gets a wide release to see how it holds up on second viewing.

You can always tell when scenes about the Asian American experience are included specifically so the non-Asian American audience notices. Like when there's a lingering shot on guests' shoes as they walk through the house, or when there's a pause after a particularly harsh reprimand from an elder. For the Asian American audience, these moments aren't out of the ordinary-and sometimes we look puzzled when we hear other moviegoers laugh or cringe or exclaim a knowing "Oh no, the shoes." But for the non-Asian American audience, these moments are foreign, highlighting the differences between the people on screen and themselves. Even if the family lives in the suburbs and the children are second generation American who speak perfect English.

In that way, the experiences of Didi's protagonist, Chris ("Wang Wang" to his friends and "Didi" to his mother)-the microaggressions directed at him, his shortcomings when reacting to his mother and friends, and even the way he codeswitches his name-are presented to the non-Asian American audience as a way of highlighting the different struggles and paths toward growth in an Asian American's coming-of-age story.

Even though adolescent angst has so many universal elements across all American experiences of it, audiences can relate to the awkwardness and shame and uncertainty portrayed in movies like Boyhood and Eighth Grade-and particularly the desire to fit in at school, with friends, or among family-differently than in Didi. Because there's a uniqueness in the tension of Didi's titular character. It's not just about fitting in to a world that is unrecognizable, one without the freedom and infinite possibilities of childhood imaginings but instead burdened by the rigid structures of socially imposed order, an inherent hierarchy perpetuated by class and culture in inculcated in our youth by media consumption and unspoken mores. There's also a cultural tension in Didi, a desire not to be like your sister or the other Asian American kids, to shirk the stereotypes and be less Asian (and more white). Chris must navigate fitting into an external world that is both his and not his, that is extremely familiar and yet so separate from his world at home-as evidenced by the different names he uses with his mother versus his old friends versus his new friends

By setting the movie in the early 2000s, Didi asks the audience to remember our own fledgling teenage years. And in that reflection, the Asian American audience sees ourselves (thematically, if not specifically) on screen. And the non-Asian American audience is meant to notice the differences, but still relate to the awkwardness and the desire to make friends and lose your virginity and steal from your siblings and yell at your mom. By noticing these differences in a quintessentially American coming-of-age story, the foreign moments become familiar and their own uniquely experienced adolescence becomes a little more universal.