Mid90s

Dir: Jonah Hill

2018

****

It’s typical, you wait years and years for a film about skateboarding and then two come along at once. That said, Skate Kitchen and Mid90s are two very different films. I liked Skate Kitchen a lot and I had more anticipation for it but only because I was unaware of Mid90s until shortly before I watched it. Had I known about it it sooner I’m sure I would have been far more excited. I didn’t grow up in Los Angeles but I did grow up in the skateboarding scene in the late 80s/early 90s in London. I used to skate at the undercroft on Southbank, underneath The Royal festival Hall. Great days. I wasn’t any good but at least I tried and I only stopped when it attracted so many posers who weren't skating, and when skating became a little too commercialised. We used to skate because it was cheap and we had no money, then suddenly skateboards became stupidly expensive and all the clothes and accessories around it became fashionable. How cool am I? Anyway, I loved skating, skate culture and I loved the 90s. So it seems does Jonah Hill. I can’t say I learned everything about life through skating, I learned a few tricks here and there but I do think I learned a lot about socialising. To that degree it helped mould me, but the skate community there and then was very friendly, absolutely no animosity, everyone was a friend, everyone was welcome just as long as you were there to skate (or graffiti). I didn’t keep in contact with any of those friends (no mobile phones or internet those days) but it doesn’t make me sad, they are lost in the happy memories in time. I hope they’re all doing good and that some of them are still skating in their old age. In all honesty I can’t relate to much in Mid90s but it still makes me feel nostalgic about the era. It also makes me nostalgic for late 90s/early 00s films, such as Kids and the works of Larry Clark and Harmony Korine. Mid90s is basically Ken Park for kids who aren’t aware of Ken Park with a little bit of 1995’s Kids thrown in. The same could be said for Skate Kitchen, although that is set in the present day. Mid90s is set in1996, and our protagonist is 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) who lives in LA with his abusive older brother Ian and single mother Dabney. One day Stevie bikes past Motor Avenue Skateshop, admires the boastful camaraderie of the skateboarders outside, and returns the following day. Back home, he trades with his brother for a skateboard, brings it to the shop and befriends young skater Ruben, who introduces him to the rest of the group: Ray, "Fuckshit", and "Fourth Grade". Although an inexperienced skater, Stevie is drawn to the group and aspires to imitate their daredevil behavior and anti-social attitudes. The group nicknames him "Sunburn" during a conversation. Ruben begins to resent Stevie, because he feels he is being replaced as the youngest kid in the group. While attempting a skateboard leap across an open section between two rooftops, Stevie falls and suffers a head injury. His mother becomes concerned about his turn towards recklessness and his new friends, but Stevie has already made up his mind that he is sticking with the group who have a new respect for his attitude. While the group are out eating at a burger restaurant Ian walks past and has a tense standoff with Fuckshit as Stevie watches in awkward silence. Ian appears intimidated by the group and leaves before a fight can break out. Slowly Stevie starts to stand up to his brother but he still takes a beating. Stevie begins smoking, drinking, and experimenting with marijuana. At a party, he has his first sexual experience with a much older girl. After Stevie comes home intoxicated, he and Ian get into a violent fight. Ian has an emotional breakdown when Stevie says that he has no friends and, following the conflict, a fed-up and suicidal Stevie attempts to asphyxiate himself with a cord from a Super Nintendo controller. How 90s is that. The next day, Dabney, alarmed by this turn of events, forbids Stevie from hanging out with the boys. Stevie lashes out and refuses to obey. Having alienated his mother and brother, Stevie sits alone behind the skate shop. Ray consoles Stevie, telling him that even though he thinks his life is bad, the other boys have it worse: Fourth Grade is poor to the point of not being able to afford socks, Ruben's mom is a drug addict, Fuckshit's reckless partying is worsening, and Ray lost his younger brother, who was hit by a car. Ray then takes Stevie out to skate at night and they fall asleep in a park. The shop hosts a party in back of the store. Ray hopes to make a career in skating, and chats up two professionals as potential sponsors. Fuckshit, who is drunk and high, tries to sabotage Ray's chances by embarrassing him in front of the pros. Stevie, who has been drinking heavily, is provoked into a brawl with Ruben. Discouraged by the undisciplined behavior of his friends, Ray tells everyone to go home. However, Fuckshit insists on driving the group to another party. Ray agrees, and the group heads off, with Stevie in the front passenger seat. No one seems happy except Fuckshit, whose judgment has been impaired by drugs and alcohol. Talking animatedly and driving inattentively, Fuckshit crashes and flips the car on its side. Stevie is knocked unconscious and is rushed to the hospital. Stevie later awakens in a hospital bed, and sees Ian in a chair alongside him. Ian gives Stevie a container of orange juice to comfort his little brother. Dabney enters the hospital and sees Stevie's friends, asleep in the waiting room. Moved by the fact they are there for Stevie, Dabney encourages them to visit Stevie's room. They appear willing to reconcile with each other after the previous night's events. Fourth Grade, who has been filming their adventures throughout the film, says he has something to show them. He plugs his camera into a TV to play them an edited video of their daily activities. Fourth Grade has titled the film "Mid90s." What Jonah Hill really achieves here is that unmistakable sense of nostalgia. It’s not an easy thing to pull off but he does it perfectly. This is a strong directional debut. The blink and you’ll miss it Harmony Korine cameo is a lovely little tribute, a passing of the baton if you will and I loved Del the Funky Homosapien’s short but sweet performance. I found Fuckshit (in England he would be called Fuckwit) quite annoying and the way the kids speak in general but it is authentic to the era/area/scene I guess. There are moments where I think they forgot the film was set in 1996 from a visual perspective but these are minor niggles because it totally felt like being back in the day and watching an indie from back then. There are so many things at play here and all of them are handled with such subtle mastery. The relationship between Stevie and Ian is very well handled with the suggestion that Stevie idolises, or at least wants to idolise his brother but can’t, and so looks elsewhere. It’s a 90 minute film, so a lot is crammed into it when most of what happens would happen over time but it still works. Hill has clearly realised his vision and has executed it superbly. The sleepy hit of 2018.