The Super Powered Fancast

In his feature directorial debut, Sean Wang has created a new kind of coming-of-age film, one that is as much a tender ode to immigrant mothers as it is to the dizzying, dissonant experience of adolescence.

On the cusp of high school, Chris Wang, a.k.a Wang Wang, is spending an aimless summer in his quiet Northern California hometown of Fremont. He fights with his sister (Shirley Chen), rolls his eyes at his mother (Joan Chen), and blows up mailboxes with his friends Fahad (Raul Dial) and Soup (Aaron Chang). He is, in other words, your average 13-year old boy. But in the sleepy melting pot of Fremont, he’s a chameleon who can’t quite find his shade. The only person who sees and loves Dìdi (the affectionate term in Mandarin for “little brother”) for who he really is his mom, Chungsing. Chris, though, can’t stand it when she looks at him with the loving gaze of an immigrant mother whose greatest pride and most animated dreams rest in her child. He’s too busy watching skate videos on Youtube and scouring the Myspace page of his crush, Madi (Mahaela Park).

When Chris, wielding the power of a well-deployed Paramore t-shirt and A Walk to Remember reference, finds a way to get close to Madi, he suddenly seems to be figuring things out. But Dìdi (弟弟) isn’t the story of a teenage boy getting the girl. In Wang’s telling, Chris doesn’t exactly come of age as much as trip and stumble his way through an endless teenage summer — and perhaps find a way to log off AIM and see his mother for the first time.

Dìdi (弟弟) starring Izaac Wang (Clifford the Big Red Dog, Good Boys), Joan Chen (The Last Emperor, Heaven and Earth), Chang Li Hua (Nai Nai & Wai Po), and Shirley Chen (Quiz Lady). Dìdi (弟弟) is written and directed by Academy Award nominee Sean Wang (Nai Nai Wai Po). Produced by Wang, Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting, Raya and the Last Dragon), Josh Peters (The Lighthouse), and Valerie Bush (Fremont, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt).

Dìdi (弟弟) will be released in theaters in on July 26, 2024