Dìdi (弟弟) 2024

This was the most realistic coming of age film I’ve ever seen. It was incredibly hard to watch at points but I think that’s because of how real it felt.  At the end the things that I wanted to get resolved, that in most other coming of age stories would definitely get resolved, don’t. Life goes on and nothing is perfect, but it leaves you with the feeling that things will get better, which I actually loved for the ending.  I did have to pause this film a lot to sit and question Chris’ life choices, he made a lot of really dumb choices that were very hard to watch, but I feel like that’s part of being a kid, making stupid choices, feeling like your life is completely over because of stuff you won’t even remember a couple of years later. That’s what I feel like this film does best and why I feel like it’s the realest coming of age story I’ve ever seen.  I feel like every coming of age film that has skateboarding in it will forever be compared to mid 90s from now on, but I don’t really see any comparison past the skateboarding. Though as a kid who grew up with skating I did find all the skateboarding stuff to be very accurate, especially as the kid who got into filmmaking from filming his friends skateboarding because I was too shit to do any of the tricks myself. Also filming myself for ages just to get a clip of me doing a very shit Ollie, that part was super relatable.  Yeah this felt incredibly personal and real, seeing that the director and actor has the same surname as the character I’m guessing it is a true story and he even cast his own family in the film which is very cool. Which also make the relationships between the characters, particularly Chris and his family, that much more real and well done. I find it really interesting how he explored the family relationships, with his sister and mother especially. It really felt like a love letter to mothers, which was done beautifully.  Very impactful, well written film with some beautiful shots and fantastic acting. When Chris was depressed I felt it, watching it was a very emotional experience. I didn’t think I would have much to say about it but I guess I did. Just an incredibly relatable film, even though I can’t relate to it completely, it sums up really well what it felt like to be a kid in our generation.  8.5/10 The director -  “It’s a very personal story, but it’s not autobiographical. There’s a distinction there… I’m definitely him in the broad strokes. I was 13, 14 years old during that time. His birthday in the movie is my birthday in real-life. I was a skater around that same age. That’s how I got into skating and filmmaking. So those details are true, but I think Chris is probably more angsty and aloof, and a little weirder than I would have been. I probably have a little more social awareness… but I don’t know maybe not!“