Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
Jonah Hill’s coming-of-age tale Mid90s will warm your cockles despite its flaws
The 21 Jump Street and Superbad star’s first step behind the camera is a throwback to the Nineties, shot on 16mm film
AFTER Skate Kitchen and Minding The Gap oillied their way into cinemas, Jonah Hill throws his snapback into the ring with Mid90s.
The 21 Jump Street and Superbad star’s first step behind the camera — as both writer and director — isn’t another bromantic comedy like his early movies.
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Instead, his throwback to the Nineties, shot on 16mm film, is a tender, grounded coming-of-age story that will warm your cockles despite its flaws.
As the title suggests, it is set in the mid-1990s. Stevie (Sunny Suljic) is a troubled, working-class kid who looks far younger than his 13 years.
He is at the centre of the story, living in Los Angeles with his single mother (Katherine Waterston) and older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges).
The latter takes any and every opportunity to dish out a beating to his younger brother.
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Anyone who has siblings will recognise the tempestuous relationship between these two characters.
Stevie likes to sneak into Ian’s room to check out his hip-hop CDs and pore over his belongings, while Ian doesn’t want his younger brother touching his stuff and will lay the smackdown if he does.
There are only so many punches a kid can take before he starts looking for new heroes to worship. They come in the form of Ray (Na-Kel Smith), a wannabe pro-skater who works at a local skate shop, and his pals.
Each crew member has a distinct role. Ray is the wise one, F***sh*t is the party guy, Fourth Grade is the quiet one who videotapes everything and Ruben, as the youngest, is a sort of mascot. That is until Stevie becomes more chummy with the lads, inadvertently leading to friction with Ruben.
Plotwise, there isn’t much to it — but that’s not a bad thing. I felt as though I was just hanging out with these kids as they performed their ill-advised stunts on school rooftops and bantered at the skate shops in a way that didn’t feel scripted.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a teen coming-of-age story without a party, alcohol, drugs and sex. But there is something rather uncomfortable with how it goes down.
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The movie was shot in 2017 — meaning Suljic would have been 11 or 12 at the time. So seeing this kid getting stoned, drunk and copping off with an older girl is a bit weird. Still, it is obvious why Hill cast Suljic as Stevie.
The young actor — whom you might remember as Colin Farrell’s son in The Killing Of A Sacred Deer — brings depth and naturalism to the character and I couldn’t help but root for him throughout.
I was really pulling for all the kids by the end, even Stevie’s tool of an older brother Ian. Hedges delivers another impressive performance and proves why he was nominated for an Oscar for Manchester By The Sea.
Mid90s doesn’t break new ground for indie filmmaking, as we have seen this sort of coming-of-age story countless times before.
Hill even admits Shane Meadows’ This Is England was a big influence — and it shows.
But there is something refreshing about what this movie brings to the table.
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It doesn’t force an over- arching moral message but reminds us of the struggles of adolescence and the brilliant bonds of young friendship.
I think we can all remember that time in our lives, no matter what decade we endured those teen years.
Mid90s offers you a chance to get doubly nostalgic about it.
Mi90s (15)
★★★★☆
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