Coming-of-age movies don't come much better than "Didi", the first feature film from Sean Wang, who has clearly a big future ahead of him. This movie, set mostly amongst the Asian American community, is so authentic it feels like a documentary as young Chris Wang, (an excellent Izaac Wang), negotiates the pitfalls of early adolescence. (fighting with his older sister, hanging out with his friends, learning to skateboard, falling for a girl and perhaps most significantly learning how to make videos).
His mom is a luminous Joan Chen and his grandmother the wonderfully expressive Zhang Li Hua, real-life grandmother of the director, who prefer to speak Mandarin at home and live a mostly traditional lifestyle, (dad is away working in Taiwan), and despite the arguments and the squabbling this is as loving a family unit as you will find in the movies. Indeed Wang has nothing but affection for every character in the film which is clearly autobiographical. Funny, very touching and a joy to watch.
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