Mid90s (2018)

Directed by: Jonah Hill | 85 minutes | drama | Actors: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Alexa Demie, Fig Camila Abner, Liana Perlich, Ama Elsesser, Judah Estrella Borunda, Mecca Allen

Thirteen-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic, remember that name!) lives in Los Angeles with his very young single mother (Katherine Waterston) and five-year-older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges). As the title of the film – ‘Mid90s’ – suggests, he grew up in the 1990s. The internet age is still a long way off; for entertainment his peers choose video games and hanging out with friends. Stevie doesn’t really belong anywhere, but because Ian regularly hits him, he seeks refuge outside.

When his eye falls on a group of older skaters, he is immediately interested. Carefully he makes contact with the youngest of the group, who immediately takes him under his wing. This Ruben (Gio Galicia) has long been happy that he is no longer the junior and tries in a tough way to give Stevie the whip (“Nobody says ‘thank you’, then they think you’re gay”).

Despite the physical violence used against him, Stevie still looks up to Ian against his will. Through him he gets his first skateboard, later he steals money from his mother to buy a better skateboard. ‘Mid90s’ shows us how he conquers his place in this group, where on paper it is more unlikely that he will make friends there than in practice.

Stevie learns – literally – through trial and error what it is like to grow up. He sees that the grass is not always greener with the neighbours, in fact: it is sometimes more dead than alive under a nice layer. Despite his unstable home situation, there are still children who have it harder than him; at least he still has a mother that makes you blush as a teenager, purely because she cares about him and does what she thinks is right for you. Isn’t that better than having a mother who drinks herself drowsy and who doesn’t care where you hang out, anytime?

Actor Jonah Hill makes his directorial debut with ‘Mid90s’ and stuffs his film with references to that time. The set dresser definitely did her best. The music is also indispensable in this ode to the nineties. Still, you don’t have to be of the same generation as Stevie, Ruben, Fuckshit, Ray or Fourthgrade, or the director to appreciate ‘Mid90s’. The feeling of the growing teenager, who yearns for love, a place to be yourself, where people accept you, is universal and that is impeccably conveyed here. Stevie’s facial expressions are amazing; his open adoration for the tricks of the skaters, his cautious, tough laugh when a security guard tells the group to leave… The first steps he takes in the field of experience with girls are also moving and nowhere does Hill make it vulgar – although Stevie really does a lot is too young to experience what he is going through in this film.

Plot-wise not much happens in ‘Mid90s’; rather it is a collection of separate scenes, like fragments from a diary. Still, the film doesn’t feel like Hill has shot some scenes off-the-cuff. His chosen structure, on the other hand, has a lot of effect. The fact that the film was shot at 1.33:1 helps with that. ‘Mid90s’ is acted naturally (Sunny Suljic is truly phenomenal), with genuine emotions and therefore compelling and never predictable.