Didi | Dir: Sean Wang | ★ ★ ★ ★
It is 2008 and Asian-American teenager Chris (Izaac Wang who is no relation to the director) just wants to fit in. There are many challenges as Chris has to work his way around so much angst and shame he feels – personal, cultural and societal.
The thirteen year-old lives on Fremont, California, with his mother Chungsing (Joan Chen who draws on her own experiences of having two Chinese-American daughters), his older sister (Shirley Chen) and his paternal grandmother Nai Nai (played by Sean Wang’s grandmother).
Writer/director Sean Wang has included many autobiographical elements as Chris tries to navigate his complicated family life, tries to find a group of friends and tries to work out what to do about his attraction to one of the girls at school.
Sean Wang knows what it is like to be a chameleon in order to blend in. And he also knows what it is like to lose yourself in the process and push away the people who love you the most. He even lies and says that he has a White father when one of the girls says, “You’re cut for an Asian”.
Sean Wang admits that he is drawn to stories and movies about youth. “I think there’s just a time in all of our lives for anyone who’s been a teenager. It’s this time that’s so formative and turbulent, and small things feel big and big things are big.”
In the same week as Sean Wang’s short documentary film about two grandmothers Nai Nai & Wài Pó was nominated for an Academy Award, his first feature film Didi premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was awarded an audience prize.
Didi (Chinese for ‘younger brother’) will screen at UWA’s Somerville from Monday 25 November – Sunday 1 December. More details and the full film program can be found at perthfestival.com.au.
Lezly Herbert
Image: Trailer still
