From July 2008 through his first day in high school, Fremont, California teen Chris Wang, (Izaac Wang) known as Wang Wang to his friends, is a prankster who is trying on different personas and looking for a fit with mixed results. Tensions at home are high while his father works in Taiwan, leaving his mom, Chungsing (Joan Chen), to keep the household alive and well with a critical mother-in-law, Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua), an up-and-coming college freshman daughter, Vivian (Shirley Chen, who also a student at Harvard University) and her Didi, a term of endearment for a young son or little brother, but Chris does not feel loved. He is still shy around girls, growing apart from his old friends and struggling to fit in with the new. Oscar nominee Sean Wang makes his feature directorial and writing debut with “Didi (弟弟)” (2024), a delicate, emotional coming-of-age story, which will not be a surprise to those few viewers who saw “Summertime” (2020), one of the best movies of 2020, which he produced. The previews do not do it justice. Words won’t do it justice. Just see this movie!
“Didi (弟弟)” is told from Chris’ point of view. Chris is transitioning between that age of being a child to a teen, but he feels as if he is having a harder time than his peers who have figured out how to code switch from faux images of masculine bravado to more appropriate small talk when engaging with girls. While being a neighborhood menace with his friends, he discovers that he enjoys capturing the action and posting clips on YouTube but has no real movie knowledge. As a summer crush, Madi (Mahaela Park), quizzes Chris on movies, and he misses her most basic references, but unwittingly gets exposed to a world that will probably become an essential part of his life. He instinctually seizes upon an opportunity to be a skater filmer, and while his mom, a painter and possible future peer as a fellow struggling artist, understands the implications of his leisure time, his feelings of inadequacy make him flinch from anything that seems like praise because he hears it as PR to hide his shortcomings from the outside world. Without the noisiness of childhood, he is only left with the silence of self-condemnation though he has a keen ear for hearing the judgment of other guys whom he befriends. 
Wang is a gifted visual storyteller. Even though Chris is the protagonist, he takes his characters on an emotional journey with each of them changed by the conclusion. “Didi (弟弟)” is a work of autofiction-autobiographical with fictional elements to make the unwieldiness of life compact enough to tell a cohesive story. From Chris hanging back behind his friends to Chris standing on the precipice of darkness behind him and light ahead of him after an argument with his mother finds him wandering an empty street, he is a child who seems on the razor edge of hope and despair. When he fits in with his friends, he is soaring, but as he feels the need to hide or delete parts of himself and his work that does not produce the image that he wants the outside world to see, it feels every bit as harmful as if he was literally slicing away his flesh. While the threat of suicide is not a plot point, these virtual self-deletions have a bigger impact contemporaneously with the veiled code to evade the Tik Tok algorithm. Chris is adrift alone in a maelstrom and seems on the verge of drowning as he self isolates out of shame afraid to reach out to a person even if they are trying to connect with him. He does not want further proof of his inadequacies. Chris’ insecurities help make other characters who betray Chris more sympathetic than they otherwise would be because the implication is that every person in the film is struggling with the same inner tug of war. 
A lot of Chris’ inner life is told through screen casting, which is when the image on a computer screen is shown on the screen. It feels more poignant than it sounds: the keystroke tempo, the mouse hesitating, the camera movement showing what he is assessing, the drop menu and multiple open programs showing his entire world in a tiny geometric, two-dimensional space. No wonder he finds himself lacking in this constant comparison. Also the Google searches show a yearning for guidance that he cannot ask from another person. At the Coolidge Corner, after an August 1, 2024 screening then Q&A, Wang cited “Searching” (2018) as the best example of the screenlife genre, which reflects Wang’s good taste. Other influences are “The 400 Blows” (1959), “Stand by Me” (1986), “Beginners” (2010), “Short Term 12” (2013) and “Lady Bird” (2017). 
Like the last reference, a Greta Gerwig indie hit, “Didi (弟弟)” is funnier than it sounds. The warring siblings compete for who can drive the other crazier, while grandma is befuddled, and mom is at a loss to stop it. Of course, it is obvious to moviegoers that it is Chris’ immature way of saying that he will miss his sister, but he has zero healthy ways to express earnest feelings. Then Vivian turns into concerned big sis as she gets closer to the date when she is moving away to college as she notices him observing some tension. As Chris learns how to process his emotions, he finds himself unable to communicate and rendered speechless. He is still a teenager trying to protect himself by showing his aloofness and pretending that he does not care when everything really matters to him. 
Wang waits until the denouement to show photographs of Chris’ father. When Chris acts like someone he is not instead of being true to himself, he loses more people, but initially takes the wrong lesson from it-self-isolate because you are inherently flawed and undeserving of community. He also gives an outstanding monologue to Chen that in the wrong hands would sound like the worst speech for a mom to tell her child, but it just depicts Chungsing relating to her son, which seems like a stretch given their different temperament, but makes sense given his nascent ambitions. Chris’ ability to sit and receive any kind of affection without pushing it away becomes the necessary turning point for Chris to become himself. In an earlier scene, Chris engages in a similar kind of work as his grandma, who is Wang’s real-life grandma, puts herself down, and he enthusiastically corrects her. 
By the end of “Didi (弟弟),” rest assured that those devastating moments become retroactive turning points that help Chris reflect on the person whom he wants to be. While many people bemoan his time with the older kids, it is important to note that they show him an alternate way of being cool and a teenager. While they can be rebellious and expose him to elements of life that he is not at an appropriate age to experience, they do not fight, are respectful to his mother and encourage his work with reverence instead of ridicule. “Respect the craft.” Not only does he have his first professional experience as a filmmaker, but he gets to see how he can be sensitive and still fit into a male paradigm. He begins to learn that every relationship has aspects that he can pick and choose from, not accept without question or reject. They introduce him to nuance, which helps him respond to future encounters with less pain though not immediately. Maturity is a process, and the movie is a joy because he grows up gradually on screen.
While those who suffer from painful secondhand embarrassment may have some trouble watching the movie without looking at it through their fingers, try to hang in there because the payoff is worth it. The takeaway lessons from “Didi (弟弟),” are to be enthusiastic and open about what you love, do not weigh rejection disproportionate to the love and acceptance surrounding you and everything, the good and bad times, is ephemeral. Along with “Janet Planet” (2024), this movie is right up there as one of the top films of 2024.