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

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. 

I found it "an absolute joy", said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. "Funny, moving and authentic", "Dìdi" "takes you right back to being 13. (Agh!)." The film, it's true, "doesn't especially break new ground" – we watch Dìdi have his "first proper run-in with alcohol"; practise kissing on the back of his hand; and so on. But somehow it all "feels fresh and real and new". 

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The film has a "non-sucrose" tone, set by Wang's "reserved, undemonstrative performance", said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Lesser directors might have offered a "neat, emollient" ending; not this one. This is a "cool, downbeat and satisfying piece of work".