Didi ★★★★

Released: 2nd August 2024

Director: Sean Wang

Starring: Izaac Wang, Joan Chen

Review By: Nathan Osborne

If there is one thing that’s almost certain in an increasingly unpredictable time for the film industry, a great coming-of-age film is right around the corner with every new emerging group of promising filmmakers. And while the highs of Booksmart, The Florida Project, Boyhood, Lady Bird and Eighth Grade haven’t been eclipsed for some time, Sean Wang’s semi-autobiographical feature-length debut Didi acts as a reminder of the life-affirming authenticity the sub-genre offers to audiences of all ages.

During the last month of high school before summer begins, the impressionable Chris “Didi” Wang comes to learn about love, life and family, at a crucial moment of change in his personal development. Starring Izaac Wang as the titular character, Didi is a remarkably well-observed and poignant effort that positively brims with a beautiful authenticity that never relents across its short but sweet 94-minute runtime. 

In a similar vein to his Oscar-nominated short documentary Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, Wang is a filmmaker with a wonderful ability to seep his work in a sincerity that ensures the whole piece feels as lived-in as humanly possible. Transporting us to the late 2000s, with singing-and-dancing Myspace profiles and Youtube channels rendered with a shaky-cam authenticity, far from the polished sheen of a Tiktok vlog nowadays, Wang’s direction is so era-specific yet expansive enough to sweep up anyone who has ever experienced adolescence in his wry depiction of the twist, turns and upends it has in store. 

Penning his screenplay, and purportedly leaning into his adolescence for inspiration, Wang writes Didi from a place of self-reflection, celebrating the unique complexities of such a fraught period but with a willingness to be self-critical. For as many instances as there of how the humorous larking of a young boy becoming a teenager with his friends, exploring many ‘firsts’ and the trials and tribulations of being an internet kid, there are times that throw an unflattering if not unfair light of a boy grappling with his own cultural identity – and the overspilling rage and confusion that can cause. Perhaps Wang relies on the universality of the tale to fill in some of the more specific gaps left in the character and family history – a decision that prevents it from reaching the upper echelon of the coming-of-age bracket. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive, bracingly honest effort from an exciting new filmmaker.

Following a small handful of supporting and voice roles, Izaac Wang gives a terrific debut lead performance, capturing the various elements of Didi’s evolving personality with focus and insight into an uncertain, precarious young mind. Playing anyone who reaches such a personal crossroad can run the risk of feeling too sporadic, almost accidentally messy, but Wang’s turn is skilled beyond his years, rendered with surprising subtlety that bring a richer depiction audiences are bound to resonate with.

Opposite his screen mother Joan Chen, the pair develop the taxing relationship of a single mother raising a child independently, the unique cultural challenges they face and the wider family dynamic in such a compelling way. In its most emotional moment, Chen’s Chungsing shares the painting she’s poured painstaking hours into with her son, capturing carefree moments they shared on a beach; a flippant comment and dismissive reaction follow, which could have easily been overblown, but is executed so devastatingly by all involved that will move many to tears, and represents the film at its very best – heartbreakingly, crushingly honest to our own faults and failures as we come of age in front of the people who raised us.

A poignant examination of one of the most vulnerable times a young person faces. Didi is anchored by a handful of strong performances and its creator’s talented ability to capture both specificity and universality. Another solid, if not superlative entry into one of the most reliable sub-genres today, Didi is a bittersweet coming-of-age hit, filled with plenty of laughs and a handful of tears, and will hopefully propel both Chris Wang and Izaac Wang to even greater heights – both certainly have the potential.