Mid90s, Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, is a painstakingly authentic homage to the not-so-distant past. Set in the age of camcorders and Discmans, anachronistic Super 16 film gives a charming air of nostalgia to this grungy ‘coming of age’ tale that follows Stevie (Sunny Suljic), a boy on the verge of adolescence, reconciling his developing identity amongst a rag-tag group of skateboarders in 1990s Los Angeles. With impressive attention to detail, down to the accuracy of 90s Dorito packets and the trash bags, Hill, in a feat of first-time-filmmaking, achieves poignancy and humour in this unconventional period feature.
In the opening scene of the film, the fraught relationship between Stevie and his older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges) is painfully clear; bursting onto the screen in the throes of an altercation. Lucas Hedges appears drastically different from his previous roles as a sensitive teen in Ladybird (2017) and Manchester By the Sea (2016). In this film, Hedges is mean, emotionally disturbed and outwardly hardened. Desperate for an alternative to his torrid home life, Stevie becomes fascinated by a group of listless older boys who run a skate-shop. Trading his video games for his brother’s old board, Stevie becomes inducted into the dangerous and exciting world of skateboarding; much to the dismay of his mother (Katherine Waterston). Suljic expertly portrays Stevie’s youthful naivety, which, over the course of the film, becomes corrupted as he is taken under the wings of the older boys; learning how to smoke, drink, and skate.
To an extent, Mid90s can be seen as a film that vindicates the often demonised skateboarding community. Yes, Stevie’s association with the older boys proves to be hazardous, but in this new found community Stevie finds a surrogate family. One of the older skaters, Ray (Na-Kel Smith), is the mentor that Stevie lacks in his own older brother, and, in a scene where Stevie opens up about his emotions to Ray, his struggles are put into perspective. All of the boys Stevie idolises have their own issues, but skating provides these boys with a form of therapeutic escapism.
Whilst the film’s soundtrack and wardrobe are clearly ‘of the time’, supposedly so too are some of the boys’ not-so-politically-correct comments. We are invited to laugh at moments when Ruben (Gio Galicia) warns Stevie not to thank people for fear of ‘sounding gay’, and racial slang is heavily punctuated throughout the boys’ dialogues. Jonah Hill has defended his characters’ verbiage as a factor in the film’s period authenticity, but at times it feels like if you’re not recognising the absurdity of some of their youthfully ignorant remarks, it could perhaps verge on offensive.
At its core, this is a film about growing up and making decisions. Stevie chooses to befriend the older boys, and this — for better or worse — gives him a clear sense of identity. Now, as a writer and director it seems that Jonah Hill, too, has grown up. Like Stevie, he’s chosen to delve into the world of skateboarding, and it seems like Mid90s might just mark the beginning of Hill’s coming of age as a filmmaker.
Score: 4 out of 5