Dìdi review: 'cool and downbeat' coming-of-age drama

Izaac Wang stars in Dìdi

(Image credit: Focus Features)

Set in noughties California, this "affecting" coming-of-age drama follows a Taiwanese-American 13-year-old boy as he attempts to fit in with the local kids "despite feeling different in many ways", said Victoria Luxford in City AM.

Nicknamed Dìdi (and played by Izaac Wang), he spends his time skating, longing for girls and grappling with the burgeoning social media age. The film's "cultural markers, such as flip phones and a late 2000s version of YouTube", might instil a certain nostalgia for a less sophisticated age in some viewers. Mostly, however, "Dìdi" is "about being a kid and experiencing the many pitfalls of youth". Wang "gets into the character brilliantly", and there are some "fine supporting performances" too, such as from former Twin Peaks star Joan Chen as Dìdi's "overwrought mother, struggling to manage the family in the absence of her husband", who is working back in Taiwan. Based on writer-director Sean Wang's own childhood, this is a raw, uncompromising and "intensely personal" portrayal of growing up.