Chris lives with his mother Chungsing, who is an artist, his elder sister Vivian, who is headed to college, and his father's mother Nai Nai. Chris's father provides money to the family from his job in Taiwan. He is never seen by us on Sadisflix. Chris hears his classmates call him "Wang-Wang," which is derogatory, but he chooses to accept it in order to get along with his peers. In addition to being blatant in his attempts to court Madi—the person he has a crush on—he will stop at nothing to win her friendship. Sean Wang, whose short Nai Nai & Wài Pó is about his grandmothers, has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short category. His feature debut Dídi, which is a very delightful watch even if it falls short, also draws inspiration from his family.
In Dídi, a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy finds a whole new world of skating, flirtation, and family during the summer before he starts high school. There are many parallels to be drawn between this film and the mid-1990s or Eighth Grade, or any number of contemporary or classic films in the same vein. It's not unexpected that Wang tackles these topics in his semi-autobiographical feature debut. It's about discovering your position in the world, maturing, discovering your cultural identity, and discovering love. The issue is that it makes no significant or novel observations regarding these topics. Sundance has hosted the world premieres of no fewer than four coming-of-age films, and this one follows the model quite closely. When Dídi falters the most.
Although that isn't the aim, Wang's script makes their rivalry seem rather trivial. In the title part, Isaac Wang has a lovely demeanor. He has excellent comedic timing and captures the exuberant spirit of the role without ever coming across as obnoxious. Joan Chen does a terrific job in her supporting part as well, despite the fact that the character overuses convention. For better or worse, everything about Dídi fees was extraordinary in 2008. Wang does make use of the era, even though many coming-of-age movies have a tendency to become mired in nostalgia, and this one does too with a lot of needle drops and gratuitous gags meant largely to make those who grew up at the same time laugh.
