(2024 Nellie Wong Magic of Movies Essay Contest)
I tried to write down everything I loved about Dídi the second the credits rolled, even before the lights had turned back on. I’d listed a lot of things. the cinematography, the attention to detail to make it a 2008 time capsule, the realistic dialogue, how relatable it was, the characters and their relationships, everything. It took me three pages of scribbled notes before I properly realized what made me adore it so much: the insane amount of love in the film.
Dídi as a film centers on the isolation that comes with being a teenager, how you’re so often pushing others away in hopes somehow of being able to grow closer to people. Watching it in the theater with countless other teenagers I’d never met, there was this beautiful closeness I felt. We’d all cringe at something that’s happened to everyone, sit completely still with bated breath as Chris was deciding whether or not he should add a heart emoticon to the end of a message, and laugh at all the jokes teenagers have been repeating since the beginning of time. We’d react to other things, too. I’d hear people next to me cry when Chris argued with his mom, when his sister left her hoodie for him after leaving for college, and when he slept in the park at night. Everyone had been brought together due to a love for film, the same feeling of loneliness that we assumed nobody else could understand, and therefore, love for each other as complex human beings. Dídi’s themes of isolation are intentionally portrayed in a manner just as relatable as its quintessential teenage experiences. They’re so carefully shot, scored, and acted so you can relate to it, relate to feeling alone, and then it will remind you that you are surrounded by people who feel the exact way you do.
Dídi so easily achieves immersion–one of the most challenging aspects of filmmaking–through how authentic it is. You’re able to see everything Chris loves through his eyes before he realizes how much he loves it. The film is steeped in nostalgia, where watching it elicits the same reaction as looking back on your life with more experience as a person. You can recognize things you miss, things you could have done better, and reminisce on everything that made you happy, and everything you love. The sense of nostalgia carries a dull melancholy that you can only feel because you were happy before, which serves as a reminder that you will be happy again. Every scene with such a raw portrayal of sadness, loss, or seclusion still implies that not only will things get better, but they will be better than before. It’s done with the same amount of love and care that comes with giving advice to a friend, and it’s executed perfectly.
Dídi is a film about connecting with others, it’s a film about love, and that message is so easily communicated because its reason for existence and message are exactly the same.