Film Review: Mid90s

Hill has noted that he was inspired by harsher pics like Larry Clark’s Kids (scripted by Harmony Korine) and Shane Meadows’ This Is England, and the non-judgmental perspectives of those films are carried over here, meaning that we watch uncritically as a bunch of uncomfortably young lads get up to all sorts of particularly LA-type mischief.

Somewhere in the mid-90s (of course) we meet 13 year old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) in the midst of a fight with his older, meaner brother Ian (Lucas Hedges). Their single Mom Dabney (the English-born Katherine Waterston) is struggling to deal with the boys, which is part of the reason why Stevie gravitates to the Motor Avenue Skateshop, and after he gets his hands on Ian’s skateboard, he returns and befriends Ruben (Gio Galicia, one of the many unknowns here cast for their skateboarding skills instead of their acting experience).

Ruben introduces Stevie to his gang, which includes Ray (Na-Kel Smith), ‘Fourth Grade’ (Ryder McLaughlin) and the controversially-named ‘F***sh**’ (Olan Prenatt), and Stevie immediately starts pretending that he’s a far more accomplished skateboarder than he in fact is, which leads to a head injury and much respect from the guys. Long, naturalistic scenes have the youths seemingly talking about nothing (yet, of course, saying a lot), and Stevie begins to get into cigarettes, booze, dope and, in a quietly funny bit, his first sexual encounter with a somewhat older girl, who appears mostly unfazed by it.

Stevie’s increasingly wildness results in him lashing out at Dabney and Ian in an unsettlingly real sequence, and a mood of dread kicks in as we know what’s inevitably coming (something that apparently happened to Jonah himself back in the day).

With a soundtrack that includes non-hit-type offerings from Misfits, Bad Brains, A Tribe Called Quest and others, a couple of cameos to look for (notably Kids’ Korine as Dabney’s one-night-stand and no less than Teren ‘Del Tha Funky Homosapien’ Jones as ‘Homeless Man #1’) and a sense that director Hill really likes these lads, no matter what, this has a lot going for it despite a few rambling edges.

And isn’t it disturbing to realise that, for many audiences (and readers) this will all feel like ancient history? Was 1995 really THAT long ago?

mid90s (MA) is in cinemas now