Mid90s - Review

Jonah Hill’s sun soaked directorial debut is a nostalgic love letter to the 1990s. 

Stevie/sunburn (Sunny Suljic), a lonely 13 year old boy befriends a group of older teenage skateboarders who take him under their wing. The group consists of natural leader and good-guy Ray (Na-kel Smith), the semi-delinquent Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), simple wannabe filmmaker Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin) and the initially welcoming, later jealous Ruben (Gio Galicia). Mid90s follows Stevie over the course of one Los Angeles summer as he learns to skate (kind of), obtains injuries, smokes for the first time, parties for the first time and uses his new found male role models and hobby as an escape from his difficult home life. 

Saying thank you isn’t gay, it’s just good manners.

Shot in a 4:3 ratio and filmed on 16mm, the film evokes the feel of the era to the extent despite my very different experience of the 1990s (under the age of 7, in the comparatively dreary UK) this film somehow sucks you in. You feel as if you were there, you know these people, those clothes, that music. I think it's because this film captures more than a time period in terms of specific years, rather the zeitgeist of difficult teenage years and those fuck up friends we all had, the feeling of invincibility and discovery.

It is interesting to try to decipher Hill’s own upbringing and adolescent experience through the veil of Mid90s, despite it not being based on his life, we certainly get a glimpse into Hill's values and aesthetic. Likewise it is virtually impossible to not be transported to ones own teenage years and ponder how some of your own behaviour might appear questionable through a similar lens and with the benefit of time and much hindsight. 

Overall, another solid production from A24 who in my eyes can do no wrong, and a somewhat more sensitive foray into the directors chair from Hill than you might expect.

Rating: 8/10

Similar films: This is England, Lady Bird, Eighth Grade

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