Growing up is hard in any generation. But the arrival of the internet was a terrifying new element.
Set in 2008, Didi follows Chris Wang (aka Didi), a young Taiwanese American boy on the brink of high school. As his summer vacation is nearing an end, the 13-year-old finds himself looking back at the friends he’s made but looking forward to what may come. Girls, skateboarding, and the internet are staring him in the face. As he begins to clash with his mom, Didi tries to understand what it means to be a teenager—and, more importantly, what type of teenager he wants to be.
Directed by Sean Wang, Didi is an intimate coming-of-age story that highlights the challenges in growing up that cross cultures and generations. Led by some particularly strong work from its young lead, Didi never feels manipulative. Although it remains to be seen how much of the film is part of Wang’s own story, this is a film that feels entirely personal. There are no massive set pieces or particularly wild moments. Instead, this simply feels like we’re sitting in the moment with a young man who’s trying to figure out who he is at the beginning of the internet age. On the tipping point of high school, Didi isn’t even sure what he wants people to call him, let alone what type of person he wants to be.
But, that’s just the beginning for Didi.
Set in 2008, Wang sets the film at a time when the internet is just beginning to take hold of relationships. For example, as the first generation to be raised in the world of social media, Didi’s questions of identity take a different shape than any that have come before. Everyone goes through a period where they try to separate from their parents and establish themselves but the kids of the early online era found themselves with different challenges. By changing nicknames and profile icons, the ability to craft their identity provided limitless possibilities. Suddenly, kids like Didi could create a new life at any moment. This was the first generation to put on digital clothing as a representation of their soul.
And it changed everything.
After all, at the same time, this was also the generation that discovered that their behaviour on the internet had real world consequences. Seemingly small actions like blocking a potential girlfriend and shooting off online comments can cause big problems. In these brief moments, Wang highlights the new chaos of a generation re-learning what it was like to share themselves with the online world, not realizing how it could impact the real world.
It’s that accessibility that makes Didi such a beautiful piece. With small conflicts that seem massive as a pre-teen, Didi manages to speak to anyone who has struggled growing up, especially in a world of social media. Trying to balance family struggles and online relationships, young Didi dives into a world that feels so familiar yet, at the time, was entirely new.
Didi is available in theatres on Friday, July 26th, 2024.
