Film Review: Mid90s

Directed by Jonah Hill. Starring Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Katherine Waterston. 84 mins. In cinemas now.

What does it meant to grow up in a world where someone tells you “you literally take the hardest hits out of anybody I’ve seen in my entire life” – and have it be a compliment? In actor Jonah Hill’s directorial debut about young men, getting hit – physically and emotionally - is an everyday occurrence, varying in degrees but always present.

We’re introduced to the 13-year-old, Stevie (Sunny Suljic), as he’s being viciously pummelled by his older brother, Ian (Lucas Hedges). Their mother (Katherine Waterston) is well-intentioned, but lacks healthy boundaries or insight into her sons’ lives. And when Stevie starts hanging out with a group of older boys at a skate park, he discovers a world where being hard is the key to social power. Taking a fall, taking a joke, taking a punch are all mandatory, and hurt feelings have no place here. “I always have to remember to hit ‘pause’ when I start to feel something,” says one boy. “Don’t fucking thank people,” another declares. “They’ll think you’re gay.”

But these boys are also where Stevie finds acceptance and fun, and Hill observes them with a combination of anthropological observation and affection. For a movie marketed like Skate Kitchen, it’s more a hangout movie than a skate movie, as Hill merely observes the boys with a raw naturalism.

This cinema verité approach can be effective, but the characterisation of most of the boys, including Stevie, feels underdeveloped and hazy. Though the languid pacing and shapeless plot is at times atmospheric and moving, the characters’ lack of impact can make Mid90s feel tedious and less than the sum of its parts.

However, the attempt is interesting; the desire to explore young masculinity, the rejection of traditional structure, the interesting editing. Hill is in the adolescence of his filmmaking, and like his characters, the future is still wide open.