Dìdi (弟弟) is 2024 film. The movie stars Izaac Wang. The supporting cast include Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, and Mahaela Park. The movie was the full movie directorial debut of Sean Wang. I caught it with my family at a local AMC.
Izaac Wang plays Chris Wang, whom his friends refer to as Wang Wang. In the last days of summer before he starts his high school life, we see a slice of life for a couple of weeks. Chris lives in Fremont with his Nie Nie, paternal grandmother, mother, and older sister Vivian. Vivian is starting UCSD a week before Chris starts high school. UCSD will take Vivian away from the family. Chris has friends from his junior high days that he hangs out with on a almost daily basis. Chris than is attracted to Madie at a party. Chris and Madie become friendly. However, Chris has a falling out with both his old buddies and Madie. Meeting some skaters at a strip mall, he gets in with them for a few days as their filmer. At home, things come and go with struggle. Chris struggles with communication with his family members. How will Chris navigate his life?
I initially did not want to watch a movie about a kid whom makes bad decisions. But my family was so I gave in and went along. It was 50/50 to my expectations, and the 50 that was not was the details. The trailer presents his bad decisions and the movie only expands on it. However, how he makes them and consequences were not to my expectations. Sean Wang may have been telling his bio here. But embellished for the movies.
What I appreciate about the movie is a all to common kids hearing Chinese at home but responding in English back. How much of the Chinese are they really understanding? How much communication is lost because of this. I also appreciated that this was a movie I felt very familiar with due to the family dynamics. What I appreciated the most was that this was not another discovering my Asian identity movie. It was just a movie about a kid living his life that happened to be Taiwanese and his household's adults spoke Mandarin. It was just about life, not about identity.
Update Sept 3rd:
Took our 弟弟 to watch Didi.
— Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) September 4, 2024
Congratulations to the whole team - @swangsean @IzaacWang @ShirleyLChen and the entire @didithemovie team for such a fun time at the movie theaters. My brothers and I talked all the way home about how we could relate to so many parts of the movie -… pic.twitter.com/TYX4zcbd0f
