Indie Spirit Revue: "Dìdi (弟弟)"

by Nick Taylor

The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 22nd. Every voter has until February 13th to submit their choices. I'm enamored with most of this crop of nominees, and in celebration of an amazing year for independent cinema, I'll be profiling some of these lineups and nominated films. First up are the firsts: Best First Feature and First Screenplay, two categories with phenomenal taste and considerable overlap. Oscar will likely nominate none of these films, and that's their loss. But we get to celebrate them, and if any Academy voters are reading this, do your duty on behalf of good art! Nominate these movies!!! You'll be better and cooler for it! 

The first film in this series of reviews is Oscar-adjacent in a way. After all, its director was just nominated last year for Best Documentary Short. It's Sean Wang's Dìdi…

It's remarkable how the best elements of Dìdi are by far its thorniest and most complicated. The earliest scenes of Taiwanese writer/director Sean Wang's film, based on his own experiences growing up in Fremont, California, augur an observant, well-acted film. But Dìdi's style and shaping resemble the marks of a Sundance hit a little too neatly to prepare us for how tough and unsparing it becomes. We're introduced to eighth-grader Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) and the constellation of friends, family, rivals, and romantic interests orbiting him in the summer of 2008. Wang's script establishes deeply felt dynamics in Chris's relationships, impressively conveying a series of social norms and the precariousness emphasized by the momentous summer standing before them. It's the summer before Chris and his buddies enter high school, as well as the start of college for his sister Vivian (Shirley Chen). 

He's incredibly anxious about these changes, especially because the upheaval is making him doubt his own worth and the possible future awaiting him. These fears are further augmented by internalized racism, to say nothing of the racialized standards imposed by his peers and Fremont's other Taiwanese families. So, he acts up even more, puts on new attitudes to impress girls, and lies about himself to make new friends. Wang dramatizes these efforts with real sympathy for Chris's plight, even conveying how meaningful the highs of these experiences feel, but he's decidedly unromantic in depicting how alienating his stand-in's desperation and anger are. Sure, the other folks in his life have just as much on their plates as he does - way more than him, in some cases, meaning no one is reduced to a Dorian Gray painting for us to measure Chris against. The point is clear: Even if Chris doesn't deserve every knock against him, his loneliness is ultimately his fault.

It takes considerable mettle to exhume your personal history without pulling punches about how shitty you were. I've never seen a film nail finding yourself on the cusp of being a teenager, realizing how easy it is to burn your bridges, or watch a relationship you've had your whole life be thrown into a terrifying uncertainty. Not everything about the brighter tone and bratty hijinks of the early going felt as lived-in to me, but Wang's building those scenes into the colder, less hospitable, more emotionally rewarding second half is a real coup. I wouldn't have predicted Dìdi's Editing nomination, but Arielle Zakowski keeps track of tonal shifts and multiple character POVs, whether Chris is alone with his thoughts (or, even scarier, his computer) or if he's part of a larger group.

Sean Wang also reveals himself as a fabulous director of actors. Izaac Wang layers his performances astonishingly well, showcasing a natural brat who's genuinely reflective about the massive, often rash choices he's making with his life. How the hell did he miss out on a nomination in the Leading and Breakthrough Performance categories? As Chris's mother, Chungsing, Joan Chen is equally marvelous, delicate with her dreams, and evermore worn down as humiliating judgments pile up and up and up. Her conversation with her son's new friends in his bedroom shows everything special about her performance. These two actors are nearest and dearest to my heart, but the whole cast is just exemplary. You usually need to watch Spanish-language films to find child actors as casually multifaceted as the adults in their lives, but every performer emerges as fully realized figures with their own stories happening off-camera. I would have loved to see this cast awarded the Robert Altman Prize.

Dìdi (弟弟) is nominated for Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Performance for Joan Chen.

Comments

[Mr Ripley79]

I can't say I liked the film as much as you but it is enjoyable,i'm not reallly a person who likes teen angst films.

I have to say though my favourite bit of acting this year was Joan Chen's reaction when one of her son's friends praises her paintings,her reaction is sublime,she should be running away with this year's best Supporting Actress,what makes it more frustrating is the category fraud of Saldana and Grande keeping performances in small movies like DIDi out of the running.