Dìdi is Sean Wang's directorial debut feature and I felt very compelled a day after watching it to write a little review. The film brings us into Sean's semi-autobiographical tale of Chris, a Taiwanese American 13 year old growing up in the late 2000s in Fremont, CA.
If you know Sean's work, you understand how much depth and visual finesse he brings to his short documentaries. His transition into fiction filmmaking after his masterpiece (recently Oscar® Nominated!) short doc, Nai Nai & Wài Pó, plays with the overlapping characteristics of doc filmmaking and narrative filmmaking in such a unique and transformative way. Even casting his own grandmother to play Chris' grandmother in the film blends this idea of his own family and personal documentation blending into his narratives.
Sean mentioned that the root of this film is a dissection of shame and what it means to be a 1st generation teenager growing up in America, which entails coming to terms with our parents struggles in assimilation, but also finding a way of coping with our otherness in the face of becoming "American."
The backdrop of all of these periods of growth and self-discovery align at the birth of Facebook and crux of MySpace where our identities are formed and shaped by what we put on the internet and the image we curate; so many of the dramatic moments in the film are simply clicks of a mouse on certain tabs or icons on a computer screen. Watch this film in a theater and listen to the audible gasps at certain clicks that Chris chooses to make. It takes the budding desktop film idea noodled around with in the mid 2010s and forms a wonderful dramatic use of film form that enhances the found footage and skater film techniques.
The authenticity of the film also finds its way in how it portrays the adolescent behavior. Dìdi doesn't shy away from the toxic aspects of growing up in male friend groups, the rampant homophobia, violence, isolation, and sometimes casual as well as overt racism that weaves in and out of Chris's life.
But the secret sauce in what makes this film so deep is the lasting moments of silence that are brought to life in wonderful portrait and painterly cinematography by his creative partner and DP, Sam Davis. Sam, is an incredibly talented filmmaker in his own right, but it's in his mastery of the close-up in both Dìdi and Nai Nai & Wài Pó that connects us with Sean's personal history and truth that would be otherwise impossible to truly grasp.
It's watching Chris listen to his mom and his sister. These beautiful glimpses into Sean's own reflection of his family that play as a beautiful contrast to the comedic and adrenaline tempo catalyzed by the skater and adolescent influence.
This film is gonna go down as a landmark in Asian American cinema, 1st Gen Immigrant Diaspora Cinema, an authentic insight into growing up in the Bay Area, a Sundance gem, but more importantly as a really splendid period peace that takes me back to a really formative period in my own life balancing so many of the aspects of youth, belonging, and shame that Sean illustrates.
After you watch this film, I'd encourage you to find clips of Sean talking about the making of this film and the struggle to separate yourself from the personal but also wield it as the most powerful tool in your arsenal as a filmmaker. Listen to Sean mention Spike Jonze as one of his core influences in transitioning from a filmer to a filmmaker. The boundaries and conventions of skate videos being broken in order to turn into innovative cinema. It's some of the finest form of breaking down cinematic gatekeeping.
This film joins Stand By Me, Ratcatcher, Minding The Gap, Florida Project, and Rushmore as one of the great coming of age films. It's been lovely to get to know Sean and Sam this past year and I'm very proud to call them both peers and inspirations. Go watch Dìdi and give Sean and Sam their well deserved Oscars.
