ChatGPT is less than two year old, and yet it feels like it's already a feature of everyday life, especially for teenagers who might be using it to cheat on homework assignments. But there is also evidence that the platform can be used to help young people figure out life. How do I know? I asked it, of course, and it provided me with a list of things the site can do to supposedly help, like providing educational assistance, career guidance, life skills, and emotional and mental support. "So," I asked, "what would you say if a teenager told you he didn't have any friends?" I won't write the response verbatim, but it started by saying, "I'm really sorry to hear you're feeling this way. Not having friends can be isolating, but you're definitely not alone in experiencing this. A lot of people, especially during their teenage years, go through periods of feeling disconnected from others, even if it seems like everyone else in their social circles figured out." It goes on to to talk about friendship and activities and all that stuff. The internet has come a long way since the days of SmarterChild.
I'm definitely on the team that says AI cannot replace humans in things like making sure young people's mental health needs are being met, especially as they figure out their identities and their place in this confusing world. But Chris Wang, a thirteen-year-old in 2008 California who is discovering his talent at using the camera while trying to figure out who he is, doesn't (or won't or can't) seek their guidance of his older family members, and the closest thing he has to ChatGPT is SmarterChild, the chatbot available on AOL Instant Messenger (both of which are now, obviously, defunct). Chris, when he's at his lowest and feels his decisions have isolated everyone from himself, tells SmarterChild that he has no friends. SmarterChild responds that it is Chris's friend. How could it not give a response like that? The programming of SmarterChild all those years ago meant that it would give rudimentary, limiting answers; any follow-up question would've confused it. Chris does not seem relieved, and he is just as lost as ever.
Dìdi, the Chinese word for younger brother, stars Izaac Wang as Chris. He and his sister (Shirley Chen) fight constantly before she goes off to college. They're being raised by their mother, Chungsing (Joan Chen). She's not a single mother, but her husband is constantly away in Taiwan as the family's breadwinner. The other adult in the home is her mother-in-law (played by the great Chang Li Hua, an untrained actor who is director Sean Wang's real-life grandmother and was featured in his Oscar-nominated short this year). When Chris is not at home, his life is pretty normal, which means its enormously complicated. He watches YouTube videos on how to kiss, gets into fights, gains and loses friends, and begins to explore his talents as a filmmaker, in this case filming older kids skateboarding in parking lots.
Many aspects of teenage life (at least about teenage boys) are explored in Dìdi, Sean Wang's feature-length directorial debut, for better or worse. Our protagonist seems like a kind boy who tries his best and means well, but he makes one bad choice after another, like virtually any other child. Let's face it: Chris can be kind of annoying, at least when he's with his male friends, who are even more annoying. Exploding an older person's mailbox may be rebelliously invigorating as a teenager; no adult watching it, however, would be amused. I'm sure if Adult Chris found the YouTube video he made of it, he would regret what he had done. Yet it's not simply his boyhood antics that may cause audiences to cringe. For example, brother-sister rivalries and feuds can be nasty, but this one is epically horrifying. The way he and his sister treat each other is regrettable, but unfortunately, things like that happen in families. The most heartbreaking, though, is the relationship with his mother, like when he shows disinterest in her artwork. The pain in her eyes says it all.
Part of what makes those family scenes work so effectively is the acting of Izaac Wang and Joan Chen. (You may recognize Wang from his performance in Good Boys and Chen for her roles in The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks, and others.) Chen's performance as the matriarch of the family is the latest to provide a vivid portrait of an Asian parent traversing East and West in middle-class USA, joining stellar performances like Collin Chou in The Half of It, Steven Yuen and Han Ye-ri in Minari, and Diana Lin and Tzi Ma in The Farewell. For Chen, the pressure on her is great: raising her children while her husband is away while simultaneously competing with other Asian parents whose children seem to be excelling above what her own children are. The constant criticism from her mother-in-law is not helping. All the while, her dreams of being an artist slip away with each passing day. It's a tearjerking performance, one that I hope is rewarded next winter.
Dìdi more or less captures the essence of what it's like to be a teenager boy, especially back then. For those who were around that age in 2008, the film will (likely) hit some nostalgic notes, depending on how old you were back then. (That being said, I didn't know that AOL Instant Messenger hadn't gone extinct by 2008—I was kind of late to that party and only used it for a short while during my freshman year in high school in 2001, so my extremely dorky AOL name was cooliomhs2001. I was a tad late to the Facebook party, too, joining my freshman year of university in 2005, but I confess I never had a MySpace page.) Even if you weren't a teenager in the late Aughts, the themes and memories are probably universal, with the immaturity and the desperation to be seen in an ideal light, even if it means lying to impress others (especially crushes and best friends), and the awkwardness of navigating everything are the most obvious examples.
My main complaint about the film may seem trivial, but it's valid (in my opinion): there's a sophomorically excessive amount of bathroom humor in this film. Adding to the problem is that this film feels a lot longer than its roughly ninety-minute runtime. Many, however, will not be bothered by the toilet humor, and they may or may not agree with me that the film overstays its welcome. As a coming-of-age story, it works better as a drama than as a comedy, but one way or the other, director Wang has shown his talents are sufficient enough that one waits in great anticipation for his next tale (be in a documentary or not).
To conclude, it's worth noting that the final part of ChatGPT's advice to a hypothetical teenager feeling lonely, guilty, isolated, and friendless was the following: "Most importantly, be kind to yourself. Friendships often come when you least expect them, and feeling confident in who you are helps attract others who value you for you." Chris Wang's confidence will take him far, but his kindness to himself, his appreciation of his racial identity, and especially to his family will help seal the deal.
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