0:03
Allan I saw DD a few weeks ago I loved
0:06
it it's a great Coming of Age movie it's
0:10
a movie about a kid a young kid but it's
0:13
not for kids it's really Charming really
0:17
of its time set in the early 2000s I
0:20
think 2 wait s around 2007 2008 it's a
0:27
um boy trying to make his way what did
0:32
DD yeah I found it very fascinating
0:35
there I was just thinking while watching
0:38
this movie I was thinking a lot a lot of
0:40
stuff was going through my mind uh I
0:42
I'll say this reminds me of a John
0:44
Hughes movie uh that's less less
0:47
satirical a little bit more dramatic but
0:50
the satire is there um and the reason I
0:54
bring up John Hughes is because it's
0:55
really about what life was like as a
0:58
teenager uh for especially for this
1:00
Chinese American kid who uh who's just
1:03
trying to make friends and kind of
1:04
navigating this world of uh of
1:07
friendships in high school and
1:08
friendships as teens um also has to deal
1:12
with uh falling in love with a girl and
1:14
trying to uh you know doing the things
1:16
you do to to get noticed by her um it
1:20
does also deal with uh betrayals and
1:23
friendships uh when we are betrayed and
1:25
then when we inadvertently betray others
1:28
it's a very sweet story about um about
1:32
being a teenager uh an awkward teenager
1:35
for that matter um the other thing that
1:38
kind of caught my attention was I mean
1:39
this is the the movie of a Chinese
1:41
American family um and uh they let's see
1:47
I go where was I at this point in my
1:50
life and I realize I wasn't at this
1:53
point in my life I was probably two
1:54
generations past it because uh you know
1:57
this this family just came to America
2:00
uh he Dee was born in America but her uh
2:03
his mother is very uh very much an
2:05
immigrant which is basically my mom's
2:08
story and this this is almost it's weird
2:10
but this almost would be if uh if you
2:14
know the stories are similar to if my
2:16
mom was was growing up versus me in
2:18
terms of trying to navigate both
2:20
cultures uh you know you know I it was
2:25
it was just kind of funny because it's
2:27
you know it's about Chinese Americans
2:28
I'm Chinese Americans but I'm having a
2:30
little bit of trouble relating to it
2:32
only because I've been in America a lot
2:34
longer uh than this family had and so
2:37
there was a dynamic there a social
2:39
Dynamic that I found interesting found
2:41
myself wrestling with a lot um and
2:44
that's a much bigger story and a bigger
2:45
discussion but I mean overall I I think
2:49
this is just a very sweet a very cute
2:51
film uh in the vein of John Hughes and
2:54
uh you know if you have teens uh if you
2:56
have teens that are very open to stories
2:58
like this uh would definitely uh you
3:01
know tell you to go see it tell take
3:03
your teens to see it um it it will
3:07
definitely well look I thought it was
3:11
fantastic Joan Shen is amazing as his
3:14
mom yeah like really fantastic I mean
3:17
there's there's that by the way the
3:19
grandmother in the movie is played by
3:21
the grandmother of the
3:25
director so and it show he's a non-actor
3:28
and the grandma is awesome she's really
3:31
good in it and and that that's the thing
3:33
I that I resonated with most most was
3:36
the the the idea so it's basically uh
3:40
Joon Chen is the mother of Dei and his
3:41
sister and uh they're kind of bradish
3:44
throughout the whole film yeah and and
3:46
the grandmother rather than blame the
3:49
kids's Behavior they bla she blames the
3:51
mother for being a bad mother and that's
3:55
that's what you know I mean this is kind
3:57
of the focal point of the movie uh idea
4:00
of you know this poor mother who is
4:03
getting uh getting hit from all sides
4:06
and uh and weirdly as much as this is
4:08
de's story it's really the story of the
4:10
mother who who's just trying to to raise
4:13
the family as best as she can but it but
4:15
it's the best of a movie about a certain
4:18
stage of Life awkward you know teens
4:21
he's like 14 15 years old going to high
4:23
school he likes a girl they're chatting
4:26
on Facebook but they're and they have
4:28
dirty minds they talk about sex a lot
4:30
but of course sex isn't happening
4:32
because they're too young and it's real
4:35
that's what makes this movie so great
4:37
it's real it's not like it's not like I
4:41
talk about this a lot um when you see a
4:44
movie and people act like people in a
4:47
movie they don't act like real people
4:50
what this movie does is this is how real
4:53
kids act this is how real kids act at
4:56
this stage of Life they're really
4:58
bragging about sex but they're not
5:00
having any sex right like it's and it's
5:02
also heartwarming and Charming they get
5:05
themselves in awkward situations they
5:07
don't know how to handle uh betrayals
5:10
among friends there's a a major betrayal
5:13
when there's no room in the car for DD
5:16
to go to a party and that kind of comes
5:19
up later it's like that's a really big
5:21
deal he got betrayed by a friend who
5:24
wouldn't uh let him in the car you know
5:27
like it's it's like little things like
5:29
that that become big dramas and it's
5:31
just great and you know you might say
5:34
that like you know it's a a Chinese
5:37
family like no everyone can relate to
5:39
this movie yeah this is it this is
5:42
everyone can relate and it's it dii is
5:45
such a like he does bad things and then
5:48
he feels bad about it he's mischievous
5:51
with his sister like there's there's a
5:54
thing he pees in his sister in this
5:57
bottle of skin lotion her skin lotion
6:01
like like G is not an angel he's not an
6:05
angel but he's a kid and it's I I really
6:08
love this film yeah also you know I'm
6:11
gonna I'll say this just in Pride for my
6:13
people um Chinese Americans have been
6:16
making some really great movies and when
6:18
it comes to the racial component we we
6:20
take the advice of Morgan Freeman don't
6:21
talk about it um there is a racial
6:24
element but it's more a cultural element
6:26
than it is anything it's just the fact
6:28
that he comes from a different culture
6:30
than everyone else and that's plays into
6:32
it yeah it's not a big part of the movie
6:34
it's just as a grandma mom they speak
6:37
Chinese sometimes it's a very Chinese
6:40
Dynamic Chinese family Dynamic going on
6:42
here you know so but but it's not
6:45
calling out white people and white
6:47
people oppression it's just a movie
6:50
family yeah I I want to see look I saw
6:54
this movie before you I I remember
6:56
telling you you have to see it it's just
6:59
so sweet at the end of the day it's
7:01
sweet and you're right the John Hughes
7:04
analogy is very good so um I want to see
7:09
I want I can't wait to see what else
7:11
this filmmaker does yeah yeah I I'm uh
7:15
very excited to see what where he goes
7:17
next because this movie is obviously
7:19
very personal and just hit the mark on
7:22
every level um one of my favorites of
7:24
the year uh Allan obviously you
7:26
recommend it yeah absolutely yeah go see
