Dìdi

The feature debut of Sean Wang, whose Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó was nominated for the Best Documentary Short Oscar in 2023, is this breezy coming-of-age tale about an impressionable Taiwanese-American 13-year-old during the end of his last summer before high school. Young star Izaac Wang (Good Boys, Raya and the Last Dragon) gives an engaging performance as a kid looking for acceptance and eager to cross key adolescent milestones but not always up to those tasks. The great Joan Chen is unexpectedly cast in the unglamorous role of his frustrated mom, who is trying to hold together a household of warring siblings and a critical mother-in-law. While it follows most of the traditional coming-of-age beats, the details of this story are grounded in the perspective of Millennials born at the tail-end of that generation—kids with MySpace accounts who make skateboard videos with 8 or Hi-8 video camcorders. The film's specificities make it distinctive and enjoyable.