Dear Gossips,
Summer is almost always blockbuster season and the most highly anticipated films are often big budget, big effects, big star productions. This summer, the film I’m most excited about is Sean Wang’s Didi.
Sean Wang is coming off an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Short for Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó starring both his grandmothers. You might recall, Năi Nai and Wài Pó were two of the best dressed stars during award season, with custom fits from Rodarte and serving at every opportunity. Look at these two badasses:
Năi Nai means paternal grandmother in Mandarin. Wài Pó means maternal grandmother. Didi means little brother. So Sean, so far, is naming all his films after family members. I wonder what comes next. But we’re not there yet. Because this is still Didi time. Didi won the US Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance back in January. It is Sean’s critically acclaimed directorial feature film debut, due out in July, based in part on his own experience, starring the iconic Joan Chen and co-starring, once again, his Wài Pó who this time plays his Năi Nai.
A trailer for the film was released yesterday and I was sobbing by the end of it. “I’m your son. I’m sorry I’m not a bragging right to your friends.”
I felt that all the way into my bone marrow, JFC.
Last week I shot a segment for an upcoming episode of The Good Stuff with Mary Berg, recommending the must-see movies of the summer categorised by flavour since Mary is a chef. The flavour I assigned to Didi was “umami”. Umami is commonly described as savoury… but that’s too simple of an explanation. Umami is complex, deep, in my opinion it’s the most intangible of all the flavours. Didi is giving umami – lingering, profoundly satisfying, a taste you’ll want to chase long after it’s disappeared. I can’t f-cking wait.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
