Didi (2024)

One of the main reasons I’ve always been a fan of coming of age films is simply the idea of character development.

The second decade of our lifetimes has arguably more life lessons learnt than any other time in our lives (or at least the most memorable ones). That makes that time of a life ripe for picking when it comes to drama. Whether it takes place in the rebellious 1950, the  John Hughes 1980s universe, or the tech driven 21st century, teen life is hard all around.

Such is the case for Chris Wang, the protagonist of the new coming of age dramedy Didi. He is in the second half of the summer of 2008, just before he enters High School. The film is more about individual experiences than a certain plot, though we learn just enough about the home life of Chris (played rather impressively well by Izaac Chang). Chris’s dad is away at work, so he lives at home with his mom (Joan Chen), paternal grandma (Chang Li Hua), and older sister Vivian (Shirley Chen), herself weeks away from going to college.

Since it is 2008, so much of young Chris’s life is spent in the very early days of social media, including the emergence of Facebook, the last days of myspace, and (most of all), AIM Instant Messenger (oh, how I miss SmarterChild). As someone who came of age in this time (albeit in the first half of the aughts), everything from random message pop ups to looking at a crush’s profile (I proudly support A Walk to Remember, even if it was ruined by my friend in the 8th grade cafeteria)  is painfully authentic. 

Then there are moments such as searching Google and common teenage back talking, which are pure gold.

Parents, the film is indeed rated R, mainly for the swearing (I mean, he is a teenager, so chances are he would be swearing). There is no nudity or sexual imagery. It is more of a movie for nostalgic adults. 

As is the case in these movies (and life), choices are made that the protagonist must live with, both good and bad, whether it is trying to hang out with new people or saying the wrong thing. A lot of it is jammed into the time frame (a little too much I think for just the second half of a summer).

Still,for his first full length feature, director Sean Wang is not afraid to pull too many punches when it comes to the atmosphere of the whole film, be it young teen banter (“Dude, his mom has cancer”), young teen angst, young teen romance, etc. 

Don’t let the premise fool you: Chris learns much more than just how to skate, flirt, and love his mom.

Overall: