2000s kids, rejoice! It's officially our time to shine!
Crafted by Oscar-nominated documentary short Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó creator Sean Wang in his feature-length directorial debut, Focus Features' latest drama film Dìdi is the perfect coming-of-age film that will instantly give all the millennials who grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s the heady rush of nostalgia they've been craving!
Taking place in 2008 and set in the East Bay suburb of Fremont, California, Dìdi follows a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy named Chris (Izaac Wang) as he navigates both old and new friendships, first love, and learning to love and appreciate his mother (Joan Chen) the summer before his freshman year of high school.
One of the most impactful things Dìdi does best is showcasing the diversity of the Asian-American community in the Bay Area. (We are not monolithic!)
"I grew up in the East Bay," Wang told Out. "My best friend was Korean, but I grew up around Korean kids, Vietnamese kids, Filipino kids, Indian kids, Pakistani kids, Bangladeshi kids. In terms of Asian America, it was every single Asian. But also, I grew up around a lot of Mexican kids, and it was truly a melting pot. In addition to all of those cultures that were there, I think skating introduced me to another whole group of people that I think I wouldn't have normally gotten to know just through the school that I went to. It just went back to the personal and wanting to hopefully showcase groups of people that I felt like had never really been in movies in the late 2000s."
Focus Features
Focus Features
And though a lot of Dìdi centers around Chris' relationships with his friends and classmates, one of the most important dynamics in the film is that of Chris and his mother, Chungsing. With her husband overseas earning income for the family, Chungsing is the head of the Wang household and must juggle raising and taking care of Chris, his older sister Vivian, and their grandmother Nai Nai. Like most teen boys trying to figure out who they are, Chris has a complicated (and sometimes strained) relationship with his mother, the only parental figure in his life at this point, and they butt heads often. Dìdi is very much a love letter to immigrants mothers and all they sacrifice and do for their children.
"I remember very well what it's like being an immigrant mom raising two American children and what we would need to sacrifice or learn," Chen told Out when asked about portraying Chungsing. "It was a very deep learning curve, becoming a mother. So that part is very relatable."
"The kind of confusion, the desire to be a good mother, but sometimes just felt inadequate. And also you could feel sometimes your children are a little bit ashamed of you, but in the end it is just a fierce love. I think there is no love that could match a mother's love for her children. Great opportunity to be able to show that on screen."
Focus Features
Watch Out's full interview in the video above. Dìdi is now playing in select theaters and will be released widely on August 16.
