We’ve reached a point in time where movies set in the late-aughts are technically period pieces now, which truth be told, makes one feel positively ancient. But while we quietly turn into a pile of dust, why not take a trip down memory lane with “Dìdi” to revisit the good ol’ days where social media was still in its infancy, flip phones, MP3 players, and digicams were all the rage, and curating your Myspace profile felt like a matter of life and death. Ah, simpler times indeed.
The ups and downs of being an angsty, confused teen in 2008 is captured with pinpoint accuracy in this tender, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age by Sean Wang, which follows 13-year-old Asian-American eighth-grader Chris Wang as he makes his way through the last weeks of summer before starting high school.
It’s a deceptively simple little film in the mold of “Lady Bird” and “Mid90s” that understands well the awkward feeling of bending over backwards and making stupid decisions to feel liked and accepted by your peers; the thrills of first love; and the pent-up frustration where every conversation with your mum seems to turn into an argument. Don’t skip it.
