“How to star in a coming-of-age movie” is what this kid should be typing.
Izaac Wang is a child actor known for his roles in “Good Boys,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog.” His latest film role in “Didi” allows this young man to excel with hilarious and affectionate results.
It’s also a coming-of-age movie with similar vibes to “Boyhood,” “Eighth Grade,” or “Mid90s,” and it does take place in 2008, back when we had My Space and back when YouTube wasn’t so expansive. So, we’re easily reminded on the times back then, and how puberty and maturity transitions in any generation.
I could also reference “Dazed and Confused” or “Everybody Wants Some,” but this movie is too 2000s for me to do so. Not that I’m complaining, but I’m just saying. In certain generations, there are different styles and behaviors, which a portion of our modern society can relate to. I’m from Generation Y, so it’s nice to get a reminder on how social media used to be and so forth.
Didi A.K.A. Chris Wang A.K.A Wang Wang (Wang) is a 13-years-old Taiwanese-American boy, who spends his summer making prank videos with his friends Fahad (Raul Dial) and Soup (Aaron Chang) on YouTube; and lives with his artist mother (Joan Chen), his older college bound sister Vivian (Shirley Chen), and their overly dramatic grandma Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua). To clarify the opening paragraph, his mom calls him Didi, his friends call him Wang Wang, so let’s call him Chris for the rest of this article.
As Chris prepares for his first year of high school, he has a crush on an older student Madi (Mahaela Park), meets three skateboarders Donovan (Chiron Cillia Denk), Cory (Sunil Mukherjee), and Nugget (Montay Boseman), who all need a new camera man for their upcoming competition, and has to learn basically every rule in the coming-of-age book. How to kiss, how to be a filmmaker, and how to skate, etc.
“Didi” is the directorial debut of writer/director Sean Wang, who is best known for his short film “Nai Nai & Wai Po,” which was celebrated at SXSW. At times, the behaviors can be overbearing, but in other cases, they can be resonating on how some of us acted in our youth. Growing up is supposed to have its challenges, and we’re supposed to identify with the kids and teens. And we’re able to identify with Chris, and how he is about to transition from middle school to high school. The results are not supposed to be easy, but they are funny and sincere.
See the humanity of Izaac Wang and Joan Chen, see the tone and transition of Shirley Chen, and acknowledge the comedy and pathos of Zhang Li Hua. And read and listen to the dialogue of this family. I mean really read and listen to them, and they all stick to their values. It’s basically how any family would.
And even though we don’t read every friend in the movie, we’re still delighted by their activities and mischief, and we’re still questioning about how the main protagonist thrives (or tries to thrive) on whatever happens during the last month of summer vacation.
And on a closing note, the movie and Chris Wang character is pronounced “Didi.” You’re saying it right. I’m clarifying it because two friends of mine were debating about its pronunciation. I heard the mother call Chris that and I heard that pronunciation in a Collider interview. So, there’s your answer.
