Dìdi

Dìdi is a 2024 American coming-of-age comedy drama film, written, directed, and produced by Sean Wang in his directorial debut. It stars Izaac Wang and Joan Chen. Carlos López Estrada and Chris Columbus serve as producers and executive producers under their AntiGravity Academy and Maiden Voyage Pictures banners, respectively.

Dìdi had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2024, where it won the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble. It is scheduled to be released on July 26, 2024, by Focus Features.

Premise
Set in 2008, a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy learns how to skate, flirt, and love his mother.

Cast

 * Izaac Wang as Chris Wang
 * Shirley Chen as Vivian Wang
 * Chang Li Hua as Nai Nai
 * Joan Chen as Chungsing Wang
 * Raul Dial as Fahad Mahmood
 * Aaron Chang as Jimmy Kim
 * Mahaela Park as Madi
 * Chiron Denk as Donovan
 * Sunil Maurillo as Cory
 * Montay Boseman as Nugget
 * Georgie August as Georgia
 * Stephanie Hsu as Kissing Tutorial Instructor

Production
Principal photography took place in July 2023 in Fremont, California. The film consists mostly of first-time actors from the Bay Area. The film was previously selected for the 2023 Sundance Institute Screenwriting & Directors Lab and the 2022 SFFILM Rainin Grant.

Release
Dìdi had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2024. A few days later, Focus Features acquired distribution rights to the film. It also screened at South by Southwest on March 12, 2024, and closed the 11th edition of Sundance London on June 9, 2024. It also had its international premiere at the Beijing International Film Festival on April 19, 2024. It is scheduled to be released on July 26, 2024.

Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Dìdi holds an approval rating of 91% based on 35 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.7/10. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average, the film holds a score of 77 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

In her review for The Guardian, Adrian Horton described Dìdi as "easily one of the best, most seamless films [she's] seen on the experience of growing up online" and declared it a "clear antecedent" to Eighth Grade (2018). Scott Phillips praised the cast performances in his review for Forbes and concluded: "It would be reductive to call Didi a 'feel good movie'. It never manipulates its audience, but it offers a great deal of comedy to go with its heavier themes. It feels like real life, finding the humor and the happiness that can be often be obscured by the challenges".