Mother-son relationship in Didi brought Joan Chen to tears

LOS ANGELES – Shanghai-born actress and director Joan Chen is earning critical acclaim for her role as an immigrant mother in Didi, a coming-of-age comedy drama.

Her performance has been singled out for praise, and in a July 2024 article, Vanity Fair magazine said that “Oscar buzz is trailing her for the first time”.

Opening exclusively at The Projector on Aug 1, the film follows Chris (Izaac Wang), an awkward 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy, as he navigates adolescence and formative relationships – including with his doting mother Chungsing, played by Chen.

A semi-autobiographical story written and directed by Oscar-nominated film-maker Sean Wang, Didi won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It is also one of 2024’s top-rated titles on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 100 per cent audience score and a 95 per cent critics’ score.

Chen starred in the Oscar-winning historical epic The Last Emperor (1987) and directed the acclaimed Chinese drama Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl (1998).  

At a recent Los Angeles screening, she says it was easy for her to feel maternal towards 16-year-old Chinese-American Izaac Wang.

“When we first met, I felt like I could treat him like one of my kids,” says the 63-year-old star. She has two daughters aged 22 and 25 with husband Peter Hui, a 67-year-old Chinese-American cardiologist.

“It wasn’t hard because in the casting process, the director and producers put together a family that really felt like a family,” adds Chen, who became an American citizen in 1989.

She believes this is why the family scenes in the movie – which also feature Chris’ sister Vivian (Shirley Chen) and grandmother Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua) – feel authentic.

“The chemistry you see on screen, even if you tried for a whole year to cultivate it, it’s either there or not there,” says Chen who, at 17, won the Hundred Flowers Award – China’s Oscar equivalent – for Best Actress for the drama Little Flower (1979).

“And I felt we had it, so it wasn’t something to worry about.”

Chen was so moved by an emotional scene between mother and son in Didi, she teared up while filming.

“My children had very turbulent, tumultuous and dramatic teenage years, so I’ve been through that.

“Often, feelings would pour out of me because I would want to say things to my children, and I probably got too emotional.”

But in the movie, Sean Wang gave her character “this greater forbearance, resilience and patience”, Chen says.

And “it was an opportunity for him to say ‘I love you’ to his mum, but also for me to say ‘I love you’ to my kids”.

But the actress admits she had been worried about one aspect of the production, which is the first feature-length film directed by Wang.

The 30-year-old Taiwanese-American film-maker picked up a Best Documentary Short Oscar nomination for Nai Nai & Wai Po (2023), a non-fiction portrait of his grandmothers.

He initially told her he was considering casting a popular Taiwanese actress for the role, an idea Chen welcomed because the two women had worked together before.

So, Chen was a little surprised when Wang ended up casting Chang, his 86-year-old maternal grandmother, instead.

But the actress quickly realised it was the right call.

“It was a touch of genius, really. It made this family so unique,” says Chen.

She also praises Chang, who had never acted before.

“She came so prepared and was so hard-working about memorising and repeatedly reciting her lines, and Sean’s mum was helping her.

“After we had our first rehearsal in the backyard, I felt instantly that she was going to be great.”

• Didi opens exclusively at The Projector on Aug 1.