Dìdi Review: A Generational Masterpiece!

Although the genre is greatly beloved, coming-of-age films are one of the most oversaturated categories of film. So much so, that it becomes difficult to create a unique outlook on the adolescent experience that feels like its own. As years go by, filmmakers often accommodate for the changing times and generations of young adults to replicate their new age of growing up.

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Just when it seemed like the 90s and mid 2000s kids would disappear from the genre as a whole, Sean Wang stood up for the skateboarding, pop-punk listening, and the AIM-using generation of millennials that have never seen themselves reflected in film quite like this. Dìdi (2024) is a masterful achievement filled with the right amount of nostalgia, great comedy, and drama that encapsulates the middle school and high school years of his and this critic’s generation.

It is the summer of 2008 and Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) is about to embark on his upcoming four years of high school. His sister is getting ready to leave for UC San Diego, leaving Chris, his mother Chungsing (Jopan Chen) and grandmother Nai Nai (Chang Li Hua). About to be the only one left in the nest at home, Chris embarks on a summer of discovery, embarrassment, and “first loves” that can be felt by anyone who has ever been a teenager. Sean Wang is able to incredibly capture the universal mid 2000s teenage experience while also being specific to his Taiwanese American protagonist.

The film handles Chris’s instances of being in his class’s minority as a Taiwanese student while also taking on the absence of a father figure in a young boy’s life. Dìdi utilizes small details of band posters (The Starting Line!), music (featuring a new song from Motion City Soundtrack), and skateboarding culture that became a massive cultural moment for mid 2000s kids to develop a familiar landscape that hits its audience right in the heart, especially for those who grew up in this time.

The film’s emotion comes from the incredible performances by its cast and Sean Wang’s ability to evoke humor and embarrassment in a painfully realistic way, making one smile and cringe all at once. Unlike some films by older filmmakers who attempt to mirror the new generation’s lingo and social landscape with no concept of authenticity, Sean Wang never makes his audience feel old looking back at their teenage years like a post-grad back at a college party.

Instead, he transports his millennial audience back to that time period in which they feel right back into it, feeling like they never grew out of it. In this, Wang knows there is still some rebellion and teenage angst still left inside of us every time we hear My Chemical Romance or Simple Plan. It is a wonder how Wang so effortlessly developed a beautiful reflection of his youth and relationships with his family while also making all of us feel a part of it too.

Dìdi has a perfect combination of cinematic qualities and realistic instances that feels like the viewer is watching Chris’s summer play out before our eyes on a friend’s camera. Chris is so effortlessly played by Izaac Wang, who although is growing up in a different generation, is able to harness the universal instances of being a teenager that never seems to change and turn it around to mirror a 90s kid’s upbringing.

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Sean Wang is not afraid to have his audience chuckling in their seats one minute to then be dragged down into drama the next. When one is 13 years old, the “smallest” embarrassments can feel like a bomb going off in a mailbox, and Wang’s filmmaking and script has the audience empathizing for Chris’s roller coaster of emotions as he navigates first kisses, flirting, and “traitorous” friends.

Dìdi is the best coming-of-age film to be released in decades. When all is said and done, being a teenager is the worst but the stories and lessons learned during these years will not only be everlasting but may also be the catalyst for an up and coming filmmaker with talent to last a lifetime.

‘Dìdi’ Rating – 5/5

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