Movie review: ‘Dìdi’ captures fleeting moment of growing up

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One of the most plaintive refrains of the Y2K era was sung by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182: “Well, I guess this is growing up.” Their hit song “Dammit” was released in 1997, and precedes Sean Wang’s narrative feature debut “Dìdi,” set in 2008, by a decade, but the poignant pop-punk sentiment hangs over this emo-era coming-of-age period piece nevertheless.

Our protagonist, Chris (Izaac Wang), finds himself in a tricky transitional moment: the summer before freshman year of high school. His identity is in flux, wobbling on the ever-shifting grounds of personal insecurity, fickle friendships and family pressure, and his unsteady sense of self is represented in the film by his various names and nicknames.

There’s the endearment “Dìdi” (Mandarin for “little brother”) that Chris is called at home by his mother Chungsing (Joan Chen) and grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua). His middle school friends call him “WangWang,” one of a few silly monikers among his longtime friend group, who preen and posture beyond their years. But he’s also starting to feel that maybe he just wants to be “Chris,” which is how he introduces himself to a group of slightly older skater boys when he’s searching for connection, adrift in a Northern California summer.

In this loosely autobiographical tale, writer/director Wang zeroes in on this specific, fleeting moment of life, just a couple of months long, and throws it all under his cinematic microscope, examining all the awkward agony and brief ecstasies of this age. Wang grew up in Fremont, California, in the mid-aughts and he sets “Dìdi” there, in a Taiwanese American family. He previously mined his personal family specifics for the Oscar nominated documentary short “Nai Nai & Wài Pó,” about his grandmothers, one of whom appears in “Dìdi” as Chris’ grandmother.

In addition to the cultural and geographical specifics, Wang also digs into the distinctive visual, sonic and media environment in which the story takes place. Chris and his friends, who come from a cultural melting pot of East and Southeast Asian American families have been sprouted in a digital media landscape that flowers with MySpace Top 8s, power-pop band merch and AOL Instant Messager chimes. The film opens with a shaky, grainy YouTube video of Chris and his friends blowing up a mailbox, his joyful, childlike face captured in freeze-frame as he’s running away.

Wang utilizes this mixed-media approach to presenting Chris’ life, lived equally offline and on, and the juxtapositions in form reflect what’s happening internally for Chris too. Lo-res DV camera footage of Chris’ pranks and skate tricks that he posts online contrasts the warm, intimate close-ups of the film’s cinematography by Sam A. Davis. Chris’ real-life social interactions are fumbling and uninformed, unlike his online chatting, which is bolstered by furious Google and Facebook searches, trolling digital lives for clues. So much of his social life is mediated though computer screens that in person, he flails.

But it’s not just social media that makes up his world. Race and culture also fundamentally shape his reality, and Wang lets that theme emerge organically but indelibly, allowing the audience to witness how Chris navigates his own Asian American identity. It’s not so hard amongst his Korean and Pakistani middle school friends, but with the white and Black skater guys and their crew, he chafes at the nickname “Asian Chris,” the only moniker he attempts to edit, an attempt that ultimately backfires.

Much of “Dìdi” is about the halting, inadvertent mistakes that Chris makes in his fumbling attempts at connection: when he blocks his crush Madi (Mahaela Park) on AIM instead of telling her how he feels; when he deletes a bunch of videos he’s taken of his new skater friends simply because one was imperfect; or when he explodes at a classmate in a PSAT tutoring session. But Izaac Wang’s performance of this tortured teenage soul, so young, still in braces, is a sensitive expression of the insecurity Chris feels around others and anxiety about how he will be perceived. Wang’s performance is mirrored by Chen as his mother, a housewife with an artist’s heart. She delicately balances steeliness and vulnerability on a knife’s edge to deliver a heartrending performance.

Sean Wang’s commitment to realism means that some of the storylines don’t feel entirely finished, as storylines in life often do. Chris messes up, he wallows, he does his best to make things right, and things don’t always wrap up neatly. He keeps moving forward, his only task is to try and figure out who he is, what he wants, and to feel secure enough to savor those short, blissful moments of connection and freedom. Friends come and go, but family remains, always. We watch his journey to arriving at that simple, but profound realization, and well, I guess this is growing up.

‘Dìdi’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language throughout, sexual material, and drug and alcohol use — all involving teens)

Running time: 1:34

How to watch: In theaters July 26

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Today in History: July 26, Americans with Disabilities Act signed into law

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Today is Friday, July 26, the 208th day of 2024. There are 158 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA, prohibiting discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities.

Also on this date:

In 1775, the Continental Congress established a Post Office and appointed Benjamin Franklin its Postmaster-General.

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Today in History: July 21, verdict reached in Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’

In 1847, the western African country of Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, declared its independence.

In 1863, Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70.

In 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee succeeded him.

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which reorganized America’s armed forces as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. military.

In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista (fool-HEN’-see-oh bah-TEES’-tah) with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)

In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.

In 2002, the Republican-led House voted to create an enormous Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

In 2018, the last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed for a series of crimes in the 1990s, including a gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people.

In 2020, a processional with the casket of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, where Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten 55 years earlier.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard is 85.
Football Hall of Famer Bob Lilly is 85.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love is 83.
Singer Brenton Wood is 83.
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger is 81.
Actor Helen Mirren is 79.
Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 75.
Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 68.
Actor Kevin Spacey is 65.
Actor Sandra Bullock is 60.
Actor Jeremy Piven is 59.
Actor Jason Statham is 57.
Actor Olivia Williams is 56.
Actor Kate Beckinsale is 51.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is 44.
Actor Juliet Rylance is 44.
Actor Monica Raymund is 38.
Actor Francia Raisa is 36.
Actor-singer Taylor Momsen is 31.
Actor Elizabeth Gillies is 31.
Actor Thomasin McKenzie is 24.

Miranda goes out swinging as Saints top Omaha

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Another day, another Saint gets his wings.

After the Saints said goodbye to Royce Lewis following Wednesday’s game at CHS Field, fellow Twins infielder Jose Miranda completed his rehab in the Saints’ 5-2 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Thursday and is set to join the Twins in Detroit.

Miranda, hitting second in the order and playing first base, walked in his first at-bat, walked again in the second inning, poked an outside pitch down the right-field line for an RBI double in the fourth and flew out to left in the sixth.

Miranda was replaced at first base by Chris Williams in the seventh and received a hug from manager Toby Gardenhire before heading to the clubhouse. Miranda left the stadium before game’s end.

The Twins placed Miranda on the 10-day injured list on July 11 due to a low back strain amidst the best major-league season of his young career. Miranda was hitting .325 with nine home runs and 43 runs batted in.

Meanwhile, one day after Saints starter Caleb Boushley tied the team record with his ninth win of the season, Randy Dobnak added his name to the record book with his ninth victory. Dobnak (9-5) pitched seven shutout innings, striking out five.

He came out to pitch the eighth but was lifted after hitting the first two batters of the inning. He was charged with the Storm Chasers’ first run.

Dobnak is well aware of the last time he pitched seven full innings in a game. It was his last start in the majors — Sept. 3 of 2021 while a member of the Twins.

He remembers the details clearly: “Seven innings. Tampa Bay. Five runs. I want to say six hits. Two strikeouts. Eighteen ground outs.”

The 29-year-old Dobnak appeared in 33 games with the Twins from 2019-21, including 21 starts. He owns a record of 9-12 in the majors to go along with two saves. He has one year remaining on a five-year, $9.25 million contract he signed in 2021. He has not pitched for the Twins since going 1-7 in 2021.

Dobnak said Thursday’s performance was reminiscent of the way he pitched when he had some of his best success.

“This is how I pitched in 2019,” he said. “I’d go 6- to 7-plus, I wouldn’t have many strikeouts, but I’d have plenty of ground outs and plenty of early outs. It worked out today. Good defense; the guys were pretty much locked in the whole game.”

Asked if he was going to try to go nine innings, Dobnak said, “I’ll go until they take me out. Toby asked me if I wanted to go back out (for the eighth) and I said, ‘Hell, yeah I want to go back out.’ He told me I had 10 pitches.

“So, of course, I get ahead of two guys and hit them both.”

The Saints sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and took a 2-0 lead. Designated hitter Alex Isola and catcher Patrick Winkel delivered RBI singles.

The Saints added a run in the third. Left fielder Dalton Shuffield led off with a triple to center field and scored on a wild pitch. After Miranda’s double gave the Saints a 4-0 lead in the fourth, the Saints strung three two-out singles together in the fifth, with Peyton Eeles driving in the run.

Briefly

Dobnak made it three straight impressive starts in the series for the Saints after Boushley allowed one run in six innings on Wednesday and Louie Varland pitched six shutout innings on Tuesday. Varland will get another start against the Storm Chasers on Sunday.

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Photos: Sarah Hennesy formally sworn in as Minnesota Supreme Court’s newest associate justice

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After taking the oath of office, Sarah Hennesy became the newest associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court Thursday.

Hennessy’s parents held the Minnesota and U.S. constitutions as she took the oath of office and her husband, children and mother-in-law robed her, according to a news release.

“In the 30 years that I have worked as an attorney and as a judge, I have seen the legal system at its best and worst,” she said during the ceremony. “I have seen veterans in treatment court in tears thanking the judge for saving them (and) I’ve seen how hard our judges, court employees, justice partners, and attorneys work each and every day to uphold the rights of Minnesotans.”

Hennesy was chief judge of the Seventh Judicial District in St. Cloud and previously practiced law in both appellate and trial courts in Iowa, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, and as a staff attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid in St. Cloud. Her appointment means the entire state high court consists of DFL-appointed justices.

Hennesy succeeds Justice G. Barry Anderson on the court following his retirement.

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