“Dídi”, a film about grow-ing up as a teenager in the Bay Area, follows the story of Chris “Dídi” Wang, a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy, and his relationships with his family, friends, and himself. The main character learns how to skateboard, make friends, lose friends, and how to stay true to himself along the way.
Released in July of 2024, “Didi” was written and di- rected by Sean Wang, a film- maker from Fremont. The film is Wang ’s directorial debut and was filmed in the areas of Fre- mont, Milpitas, and San Jose.
Set in 2008, the film is a com- ing-of-age story that explores what it’s like to be a child entering the most awkward phase of life: becoming a teen- ager. The movie poster says that the film is for “anyone who has ever been a teenager.” I be-lieve this to be true because the characters are quite relatable and realistic; they face new challenges while navigating their relationships with their families and friends.
Structurally, the plot of the film is set up very well, but some aspects, like plot de- velopment and pacing, could be better. Certain plot ideas seemed to not be thought out completely or explored en-tirely. For example, much of Chris’ relationship with himself has to do with him feeling alienated from his new friend group. However, Chris’ self-image isn’t a ma-jor focus of the film and his thoughts and feelings aren’t explored thoroughly.
There are only three main points where his feelings are brought up during some scenes where he feels angry and con- fused, but the story doesn’t ex- plore these ideas completely. Rather than focusing on how Chris feels and how this affects him, the movie introduces his emotions and moves on very quickly.
The film involves a handful of main events that build on each other to keep the audience engaged and the plot moving. These events take up much of the film. If more time was spent on showing what Chris is going through, the audience would be able to see how he grows as a person.
I believe that if more time was spent developing these specific parts of the film, the entire story would feel more cohesive and complete.
I enjoyed the portrayal of character relationships on screen, as well as the authen- ticity of the film. The film doesn’t feel like a copy-and- paste story about becoming a teenager; it has a true star quality that makes it different from any other typical coming- of-age movie.
Overall, “Dídi” is an inter- esting and highly accurate story that portrays what life is like growing up as a teenager and how different experiences shape who individuals are as people.