White Wall Cinema: DIDI

The trick of Sean Wang’s brilliant debut film Didi is that it is both a coming of age movie for anyone who’s ever been a teenager, as well as being a deeply accurate portrait of what it was like for the first generation that grew up online. In what feels like a spiritual sequel to Jonah Hill’s ‘Mid90s’ and a prequel to Bo Burnham’s ‘Eighth Grade’, 2008 is depicted with heartfelt and deadly accuracy as young Didi grows up in a world of Facebook & MySpace whilst still facing the timeless agonies of being a teenager.

Sublimely written and performed, Didi boasts a brilliant lead in the shape of its young lead Izaac Wang, who must learn to navigate the tricky teenage questions of understanding your cultural identity, how to flirt with girls, how to skateboard, and how to get along with your mother, (played here beautifully by the marvellous Joan Chen of Twin Peaks fame).

Living with his sister, mother and (the director’s own real-life) grandmother, Didi’s life reflects both a highly personal statement from director Sean Wang, but also an extraordinarily moving and universal portrait of the joy and chaos of being 13 whilst trying to be cool. Tender, funny, and painful Wang’s film is a triumphant and definitive portrait of a very recent bygone era that gives us a wonderfully salient insight into the past, the present and the future of teenage life.

• DOORS: 7.20pm*
• START TIME: 8pm*
• RUN TIME: 91 mins
• CERT: 15 (Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult)