Dìdi (弟弟)

Didi is a coming of age story revolving around a teenage boy in the summer before the start of his highschool journey and like many in the early puberty years, he's struggling with his identity. Did is a pretty accurate portrayal of the shy, awkward friend in the group. The one who doesn't seem to offer much, but who's friends seem to value him for the less obvious traits he possesses, until they don't. It seems there's only so far that you can carry a friend before they become a burden, that message was overtly stated and well as assumed by Didi to be the case. In the face of rejection he chooses to time and time again, run and isolate, unable to accept blame, unable to face difficult conversations. The message to "be yourself" is one that's often central to coming of age stories and it is here as well, Didi can be seen multiple times throughout the movie trying to support his lies, his created personaal through frantic google searches and social media creeping. He lies in an almost sociopathic way, wherein he seems to be unconcerned with being caught, nor does he consider the ramifications of his lies on the other parties. He's seemingly quite selfish and insecure and is more than willing to hurl insults and demean those around him if only in a futile attempt to boost his own confidence at their expense (primarily his mother and sister). There are wholesome moments throughout and you feel for the characters, the mother struggling with raising two kids on her own while having to shelve her own dreams. The sister, dealing with her less than ideal brother and you'd imagine nore the brunt of the family tensions that were shown to arise from time to time. As well as Didi himself, he seemed misguided but also kind hearted, he just wanted to belong somewhere, to feel more than he was. In the end you seem to see himself becoming more secure in his self identity, pursuing his interests individually without the need for external support. In that moment he found he was never abandoned, but chose his isolation. A good movie, worth the watch, but falls short of being great.