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Movie Review: Dìdi

Mike Tyrkus

Although Dìdi may initially start to play out as a coming-of-age type story focusing on a young man overcoming cultural barriers, it becomes obvious quite quickly that the heart of the film lies in the boy’s relationship with his mother and how exactly that shapes and directs his life.

Set during the summer of 2008, the film follows the exploits of a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who is coming to terms with his adolescence as well as an often confrontational relationship with his mother.

Director Sean Wang makes his narrative feature directorial debut – he previously helmed numerous shorts and a pair of feature-length documentaries with A Marble Travelogue (2021) and Lady of the Harbour (2017) – with this film. Given the emotional impact the film carries and the depth with which the story is handled, it portends more quality work from Wang as he continues to hone and define his narrative voice. Working from his own script, Wang develops a narrative woven around family and one intrinsically bound to young Izaac’s mother. As Izaac himself eventually discovers, not everything is as simple as it appears to be on the surface and eventually, love is the core of any family unit.

Joan Chen and Izaac Wang in “Dìdi.” Photo by [Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 Talking Fish Pictures, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

As Izaac, young Chris Wang holds his own throughout the film as he conveys his frustration with growing up under the strict rules of his mother as well as being caught between two cultures – not to mention the onset of puberty and the complications that, along with the trials and tribulations of attending a typical American high school. Likewise, Joan Chen shines as Izaac’s mother Chungsing Wang, who is put through the same sort of wringer by her mother that she is forcing Izaac to undertake. While it appears at times that these two will see the similarities in their lives only after it is too late, the impactful and memorable scene wherein the cathartic revelation occurs is easily enough to bring even the sternest person to tears thinking of their own mother.

Charming performances are also delivered from Mahaela Park as Madi – Izaac’s definition of a dream girl – as well as Izaac’s cadre of friends played by Raul Dial, Aaaron Change, and Hardeep.

Remarkably, Chris Wang’s work as Izaac proves enough to carry the film from beginning to end, but the depth and brutal honesty of Joan Chen’s portrayal of Izaac’s mother is the added bonus that cements the film through line and grants it the emotional heft it ultimately achieves. As a narrative feature debut, Sean Wang has created a superlative story of family in Dìdi that highlights the relationship between a boy and his mother.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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