Dìdi –– A Review

Ah, yes. Coming of age.
The transition known as the "tween" age can be difficult. Awkward conversations with girls; acne popping up on your face; voice cracks; growth spurts; self-esteem issues. We've all gone through it. But rarely do you see a coming-of-age film that truly encompasses everyone's experience.

Sure, iconic films like The Perks of Being a Wallflower have achieved this before, but not perfectly. Unlike Dìdi, the film doesn't necessarily engage with growing up in an immigrant household, or the age of edgy humor and offensive jokes. It lacks the authenticity of growing up in the early 2000s entirely, focusing on the internal issues and struggles of the characters.

But Dìdi is different.

The 2000s was a unique time. Pagers, landlines, AOL. Dìdi, of course, has all these motifs. The story follows the life of a boy named Chris aka Wang-Wang. He lives in a Taiwanese household with his mother, grandmother, and older sister. Growing up in an all-female household for most of my life, I often related to this.

Wang-Wang is a lot of things. A lover-boy, a fighter, an edgy tween, a skater, a good friend, and most importantly: a filmer. Throughout the movie, Wang-Wang falls in love with a girl (who is slightly racist), yet becomes awkward once hanging out with her. He loses contact with his best friends, finding his way into a friend group of older high-school students who skate. Wang-Wang becomes their follow-along filmer, catching every moment on his Mini-DV camcorder. However, once they see the footage, they are unimpressed. Wang-Wang becomes even more self-conscious and expresses his rage in different ways, but it mostly comes out in his relationship with his mother.

Of course, I won't spoil the movie. But what you need to know is that no matter when you grew up; how you grew up; or who you are; you will find an aspect of yourself in this movie. It doesn't try and meddle with confounding poetic bullshit. It simply tells the story of an awkward boy living an awkward life with his awkward family and his awkward...

everything.

"Oh yes, and so that's when I found out that we only live once and I jumped off a bridge with my friends who I found out..." Oh my god! Nobody cares! Nobody realized any of this when they were 13, nobody found out that the world is whatever and whatever. We all just lived, and we didn't know what we were doing.

So, if you want to watch a coming-of-age film that doesn't try and be something it's not; a film that is honest in every aspect of growing up; a film that connects with you and your core memories; and a film that will make you laugh, cringe, cry, and fill with joy; WATCH DÌDI.

If I had to give it a rating? 4.6/5.
Oh, and also it's a directorial debut. Bravo!