Come of Age With Dìdi (弟弟) and These Four Other Films About Teenage Trouble

In Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟), Chris Wang (Izaac Wang) is a 13-year-old kid in the suburbs of Fremont, California, trying to figure out who he is. His sister (Shirley Chen) is constantly annoying him, his well-meaning mother (Joan Chen) is nagging him, and the kids at school don’t quite get him. Dìdi (弟弟) “is a roller coaster of adolescent milestones and growing pains," according to MovieWeb. "Anyone who was a teenager will relate.”

To celebrate that utterly awkward, unforgettably meaningful time of life, we are showcasing some of our other favorite films on surviving adolescence.

You can now watch Dìdi (弟弟) at home or in theaters!

Lisa Frankenstein

In Lisa Frankenstein—directed by Zelda Williams from a script by Academy Award®-winner Diablo Cody—an awkward teen (Kathryn Newton) gains a new sense of self when she accidentally awakens a 19th-century corpse (Cole Sprouse). Unable to connect to her bubbly stepsister (Liza Soberano) or dictatorial stepmom (Carla Gugino), Lisa finds purpose in helping put her beau’s life—and body—back together. Looper writes that Lisa Frankenstein connects to its 19th-century namesake by transforming “the arrogant mad scientist with a God complex into a teenage misfit just looking for someone who understands her," making it “an energetic, delightfully macabre production.”

Watch Lisa Frankenstein now on Apple TV or Amazon!

Polite Society

In Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, Ria Khan (Priya Kansara), a high school student with hopes of becoming a stunt woman, puts her dreams into practice when she and her friends set out to rescue her sister (Ritu Arya) from a disastrous marriage. “The action in the film really represents what it feels like to be a teenage girl,” Manzoor explains in the production notes. With a remarkable stunt team and stunning cinematography, that action becomes a technicolor fantasy. “Polite Society turns the idea of high-schoolers fighting the patriarchy into a pulpy, irresistible heist movie replete with visual wit, impressive martial arts, gripping social horror, and undiluted female rage,” writes The Playlist.

Watch Polite Society now on Apple TV or Amazon!

The Holdovers

In The Holdovers—directed by Alexander Payne and written by David Hemingson—three outcasts weather a holiday season at an empty prep school in New England. A cranky Classics teacher (Paul Giamatti), with the help of the school cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph in an Oscar®-winning performance), is tasked with shepherding a trouble-making student (Dominic Sessa), whose parents have abandoned him. “Though the stakes of staying at school over Christmas break seem very low,” writes Screen Rant, Sessa “does a great job of emoting how life or death that concept feels to a teenager.” During their time together, Giamatti’s character sees himself in the teenager’s plight, feeling, Vanity Fair writes, “the bittersweet pang of beholding a young person so teeming with energy; how unwittingly lucky he is, despite all his hurt, to be just beginning, to have it all still laid out before him, undiscovered.”

Watch The Holdovers on Apple TV or Amazon!

Thoroughbreds

To recreate the world of entitled teens in Thoroughbreds, writer-director Cory Finley told NYU News how he drew on his memory of “some very wealthy kids from my high school.” When the rebel Amanda (Olivia Cooke) asks the popular Lily (Anya Taylor-Joy) to coach her for her college prep, the two forgo academic training in lieu of devising a sinister plot against Lily’s stepfather. “What follows is a bloody chess game played out on a perfectly manicured lawn, filled with high tension and a little overly precious rich-teen nihilism,” writes NPR.

Watch Thoroughbreds now on Apple TV or Amazon!