By Amanda Gilmore
Dìdi (弟弟) is set in 2008. A time when it was common to AIM your crush, film YouTube videos with friends not for fame but for fun, and realize that Facebook is the best form to stealthily spy on your friends. It follows Dìdi (Isaac Wang in the summer before high school begins. This impressionable boy learns through his friends and family what it means to be a good friend, person, and most importantly a good son.
Writer-Director Sean Wang makes a striking Feature debut about coming-of-age during the onset of the ‘social’ internet. It’s an honest look at being an adolescent. A time when we were completely self-absorbed but weren’t aware of it. Dìdi, brought to the screen with a vibrant energy by newcomer Wang, is precisely at this stage. The stage of yearning to fit in while being selfish.
He wants to start dating his crush but is scared of his first kiss. He wants to film skateboard videos with a group of boys who’re older than him. Overall, he just wants what every 13-year-old wants: to belong. But while he’s doing everything he can to belong, he loses his connection to his family. A family with an ill grandmother, a sister moving away for college, and a mother (captivatingly performed by Joan Chen) who sacrificed everything for him.
The Ensemble is outstanding. It comes as no surprise they won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble. Dìdi (弟弟) is at its best when it focuses on the family dynamic, particularly between mother and son.
Dìdi (弟弟) is in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s festival. It won the U.S. Dramatic Competition Audience Award along with the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble.
Dìdi (弟弟) screens at Sundance ’24:
Jan 19 at 7:30 PM at The Ray Theatre
Jan 20 at 5:00 PM at Redstone Cinema – 1
Jan 21 at 1:45 PM at Broadway Centre Cinemas – 6
Jan 23 at 5:15 PM at Library Center Theatre
Jan 24 at 5:00 PM at Holiday Village Cinemas – 4
Jan 26 at 6:45 PM at Redstone Cinemas – 7
Online — Jan 25 – Jan 28
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