Have we reached the stage where the ‘90s are officially nostalgic now? It appears so, with the aptly titled Mid90s taking audiences back to a 25-year-old zeitgeist via America’s youth skating sub-culture. Jonah Hill’s debut directorial effort may not be the first ‘90s period piece, but it’s one that relies more than others on its temporal setting. Courtesy of an iconic ‘90s soundtrack, scored by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and wardrobe choices that wouldn’t look out of place among today’s normcore hip-hop fans, Mid90s well and truly embodies the aesthetic of its title.
The film follows Stevie (Sunny Suljic), a 13-year-old boy desperate to be cool, as defined by the brands and artists of his harsh older brother Ian (played by an uncharacteristically one-dimensional Lucas Hedges trying to broaden his range). However, it’s outside of the home where Stevie finds belonging and security, ironically among a reckless group of skaters with little regard for the law. These four boys – Ray (Na-kel Smith), ‘Fuckshit’ (Olan Prenatt), ‘Fourth Grade’ (Ryder McLaughlin) and Ruben (Gio Galicia) – are on face value the last four people you’d want to raise a child.
Depending on your own biases, Mid90s can either be interpreted as a celebration or a condemnation of this quartet, and of skate culture more broadly. Glass half full audiences will point out the spirit of brotherhood that unites these outcast and socially disadvantaged youths. Glass half empty viewers, meanwhile, may find themselves appalled at the behaviours of these skaters, who not only drink, smoke, swear and trespass but can be pretty horrible to one another as well. Regardless of which camp you sit in, it’s likely that you’ll find yourself conflicted by something the film portrays, especially when the protagonist is an impressionable child.
One suspects that Hill, who wrote the film as well, wants us to be empathetic towards his leads, but his intentions are never entirely clear. To his credit, he makes no effort to moralise his audience or manipulate us through a coming-of-age narrative; instead he let his organic actors improvise (or at least pretend to improvise) their way through different situations, recording their behaviour much like that of his character ‘Fourth Grade’ – who carries a video camera with him wherever he goes.
This documentary-style aesthetic is aided by a number of stylistic choices, which includes the employment of a 4:3 aspect ratio, the use of intentionally stilted cuts between his characters during dialogue scenes, and a running time of just 85 minutes. These choices affirm Hill’s talents as a creative director with a strong vision, one capable of bringing the audience inside his world. And although the talents of Hedges and Stevie’s mum Dabney (Katherine Waterson) go somewhat underused, he knows how to get the best out of his no-name leads, who we can’t help but care for even if we don’t approve of their choices.
Mid90s is showing exclusively at Cinema Nova from 4 April through Roadshow Films.
