I went to watch Didi in the theaters the day it released because I was extremely excited to watch a coming of age film that was centered around the Asian-American experience. However, I left feeling disappointed at the lack of emphasis in relationships.

The blurb for this movie on Letterboxd describes it as an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. Not only did he not learn to skate, flirt, he barely had a relationship with his mom who wrapped the movie up with a monologue that felt like the director wanted to have as much as an impact as Everything Everywhere all at Once did, but it was so badly written I was in awe when I opened imdb to find that it had a higher Rotten Tomatoes score than Everything Everywhere all at Once, albeit, with a much lower watch rate.

With classic coming to age stories like The Perks of being a Wallflower, Dead Poets Society, and Lady Bird, they center around relationships with siblings, parents, teachers, or peers their age. Watching Didi, I felt like all the relationships were superficial and it barely hit the rubric not only in depth but in creativity. Sean Wang had a great product to work with: Asian-American coming to age about self identity with being ashamed of culture or something along those lines and maybe I subconsciously was hoping for something similar to the graphic novel American Born Chinese. Only a few movies and stories come to mind that are able to hit that rubric where it becomes a staple for American Asians and conjoin the community over this representation. Now, just because the cast is entirely Asian does not mean the focus of the story needs to be about the Asian American experience but the topic was touched once and then never brought up again which felt like a cheat in my opinion. I understand why people like this film but again, everything was so sped up and topics were brushed by without saying anything of value.

NO SPOILERS

Iron Claw was one of my favorite movies to have come out last year in 2023. Based on a true story, the Von Erichs were a prominent wrestling family that thrived on their ranch in Texas.

This movie has a strong emphasis on family and the bond of brothers, all intertwined in the toxicity of obsession within the sport of wrestling. There were 5 sons in this movie, all of which are destined, by their father, to become something great. This is obviously very toxic yet the brother’s will to survive not just their father but the expectations the world had on the great, wrestling family, does not seep into their relationships with one another.

Zac Efron plays Kevin Von Erich, whose connection to his brothers and emphasis on family is his main will to live. The family battle health conditions, expressing emotions whether as a man or a repressed woman, and learning how to live for yourself.

My review: personally, I’m not a huge fan of sports movies but I really liked this one since sports weren’t the main focus, I would reccomend if you liked: Everything Everywhere all at Once, Waves, Hereditary, and The Little Prince.

Iron Claw is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.

SPOILER FREE

The movie Fried Green Tomatoes proved to be a surprisingly enjoyable watch for me. I started the movie without a clue what it was about, only that it was going to be leaving Netflix soon, but just 20 minutes in I was crying. This movie is centered on the female bond, among other things, and follows the story of two female relationships: Ruth and Idgie from the 1920s, and Ninny and Evelyn in the 1980s.

Evelyn, a modern housewife of the 80s, struggles with her self-esteem. She and her husband, Ed, move near a senior living facility on the account of Ed’s aunt, who can’t seem to tolerate Evelyn and kicks her out of her room. In dismay, Evelyn waits for Ed in the visitor space when she meets an old woman named Ninny. Ninny tells Evelyn a story of when she was younger about two women, Ruth and Idgie, who against all odds formed a beautiful relationship that got each other during the Great Depression.

My review: This is a film where the connection between two people is so strong that it does not need to be explicitly declared or necessarily lead to something more physical. I know that there are disputes that the original book was more heavily focused on the romance of the story and this movie had a great deal of lesbian erasure but I genuinely think that this movie on its own stands to be a great piece of work. It is not a story where the message is written out plainly for all to see, which is why I like it so much. It is also very easy to watch, you might think that it would be confusing since it’s an old movie but I found myself completely immersed. Overall, I would recommend it if you liked La La Land, The Florida Project, Call Me By Your Name, or anything by Greta Gerwig.

Fried Green Tomatoes is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.