This was a pleasant surprise. "Dídi" is a wonderful little indie film that more than delivers on the potential of its coming of age premise, and breaks new ground for the genre by finding unique ways to develop its characters.
The film offers an honest and touching look inside the life of a young Taiwanese-American teen as he navigates the awkward turbulences and heartbreaks of adolescence (some familiar/relatable, and others not as much). As the film progresses, Chris, the young central character, strains to discover himself and find his place in the world. We watch as he grows up and is forced to learn many of life's universal lessons, all while charting his own unique course through youth.
It's a familiar premise, but Sean Wang does something new and special with it, straying from the formula and imbuing the whole thing with subtle touches of realism, many of which I've never seen captured quite the same way in film before (HBO's Euphoria has a few moments which are comparable, but they're far more sensationalized than anything here). I really appreciated these novelties, as well as the film's frequently experimental approach/style, as they helped make things feel consistently fresh and new. Also, the fact that the timeline of Chris' childhood happens to line up almost exactly with my own made the whole thing especially enjoyable. They captured growing up in the 2000s perfectly.
I could definitely see this becoming a breakout hit, and to be honest, it may be the best film I've seen at a Sundance premiere (admittedly a limited selection, but I am from Utah, so I try to make it to the festival every few years). In any event, I'm looking forward to watching this again once it gets a wide release to see how it holds up on second viewing.
