Dìdi
I have said it once and I will say it again, I am a sucker for a great coming of age film. Graduating in 2010 let this film hit even better. From T9 to myspace, I was able to feel like I was in a time machine. The movie also helped me realize that we had a lot of unknown by growing up in this time period. It created new challenges and we got to see and feel the emotions that DiDi went through. Along with some of the deep nature that it goes into, it was also really funny. My only really big issue with the film is that 8th to 9th grade is tough, but it seems extra tough for DiDi. In some ways this is a pretty depressing film, but overall it scratched the itch that I had. I think it may be in Oscar talks if we are lucky. Even if it doesn’t, everyone should find some time to see it.
-J
With the exception that none of us are Taiwanese, Dìdi was tailor-made for the ZEJ crew, depicting Chris Wang’s summer before high school in 2008, and all of us at ZEJ were also in high school at that time, so the specificity to that time hit way too close to home for us. Coming-of-age always has an easy time pulling at my heart strings, but this movie played more on the cringe and painful side of teenagehood that certainly made it more unique and powerful, but with much less of the joy that often is coupled with those ideas, and for me, that made it a bit harder watch. Don’t get me wrong, the writing, cinematography and acting are all top-notch, and director Sean Wang, who the movie is largely a depiction of, can clearly produce great cinema, and Dìdi is certainly worth checking out.
-Z
