Man, being a tween sucks. Whether you grew up in the era of social media, or in pre-historic times (like myself), the years just before high school can be brutal. Your body is changing, your friends are changing, and your hormones are on the fritz. No matter how confident you are, you’re probably cripplingly insecure on the inside. So it’s sweet to see such a gentle and true portrayal of a teenage boy stumbling through the summer before high school.
Chris (Izaac Wang), called Wang Wang by his posse of potty-mouthed adolescent buddies, is a sort of third wheel even among his closest pals. He’s at that tenuous age where he has screaming fights at the dinner table with his older sister (Shirley Chen), rolls his eyes at his mom’s earnest attempts at painting, but still has some mumbling respect for his grandma Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua). His interests are unfocused—like he takes dumb videos of his buddies, posting them to circa-2008 YouTube for laughs, and he’s an occasional skateboarder, but seems to carry his board more than ride. He sometimes makes shit up to try to fit in (like befriending some older skateboarding boys, or flirting awkwardly with a girl he likes). These are misdirected bursts of confidence, really, but his falsehoods inevitably catch up to him. He’s not a bad kid, just kind of lost.
Didi would be a sweet portrayal of any American tween, but what gives this film a refreshing uniqueness (at least among American films) is that Chris is first generation. His grandma scolds him in Taiwanese Mandarin while he mumbles back in English. He makes up stories about being half-white and starts introducing himself as Chris rather than the belittling nickname he’s grown used to from his friends. Like any teen, he is trying on identities in the same way he steals his sister’s cool t-shirts… trying to see what fits; trying to figure out how he fits in.
Izaac Wang is terrific as Chris, and the ensemble cast is great… but if anyone is looking for an early candidate for Best Supporting Actress, may I point you to Joan Chen. The always-lovely Chen absolutely breaks your heart as Chris’ mom (the kids’ absent dad is back in Taiwan)—she quietly serves as an unappreciated single parent, homemaker, and caretaker, while dreaming of what her life could have been. She gets a speech toward the end that is an absolute knockout, but it’s the ending of the film, a lovely, quiet moment between Joan Chen and Izaac Wang, that is simply perfect.
