The trailer for coming-of-age dramedy Dìdi (弟弟) has arrived, and it’s gone straight for the nostalgic hearts of millennials.
Set in 2008, Dìdi follows Chris (Izaac Wang), a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy growing up in San Francisco. The film offers a snapshot of life as a young teen as the world was becoming digitised, though it particularly focuses on the experience of first-generation kids — including Chris’ relationship with his family and his mum’s (Joan Chen) expectations.
Appropriately scored by MGMT’s 2007 bop “Kids,” Dìdi’s trailer doesn’t solely rely on the media of the time to evoke its setting. Instead it relishes in the unique adolescent experiences of the time, from filming skateboarding videos with a camcorder, to pulling destructive Jackass-inspired stunts, to looking up awkward instructional videos about how to kiss on early YouTube. Then, of course, there were the clumsy in-person talks about romance with your crush late at night.
Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Sean Wang and featuring a cast of predominantly first-time actors, Dìdi won the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast.
Dìdi arrives in theatres July 26.