Writer-director Sean Wang does a remarkable job of digging deep into the uglier, more cringeworthy corners of his memory for Didi’s story
plays like an extended and surprisingly welcome visit to the filmmaker’s childhood bedroom, if it happened to be preserved in the amber-ooze of Mountain Dew Code Red circa 2008.
That is the year – the summer, specifically – in which 13-year-old Chris, a.k.a. Didi , is trying to figure out so much of himself and his ever-changing surroundings. Living with his Taiwanese single mother Chungsing , college-bound sister Vivian , and nai nai/grandmother in the suburbs of Fremont, Calif., Didi doesn’t seem to be interested in much other than arguing with his family, skateboarding and trying to get closer to his crush, Madi .
Frequently selfish and an inveterate liar – not to mention being unbearably cruel to his lonely mother over and over again – Didi can be a hard character to root for. But that’s exactly why Wang’s film hits as hard as it does. Didi might be a jerk, but who wasn’t at his age? There is a relatability here that is both painful and poignant to recognize, and should send more than a few men, and women, in the audience straight to their mother’s house to deliver some belated adolescent apologies.
As the title character, Wang offers a delicate and edgy performance. The young, relatively untested actor is a true find. He even manages to hold his own against screen veteran Chen , who plays Chungsing as if she is carrying the entire family’s myriad shames and secrets on her shoulders. Wang’s ability to conjure memories and moods extends to the film’s era-appropriate aesthetic. This is a movie that feels sticky, lived-in, rough around the edges, just like Didi’s well-kept but dated middle-class home. The set design is also so perfect that it hurts, crammed as it with so many early-aughts fashion and tech that it’s mortifying to realize that these were the standards of the time.
Criticspick Didi Wang Mother Didi Film Skateboarding Chen Character Spike Jonze Fremont Calif.
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