Jonah Hill’s career has been
nothing if not dynamic. In
2007, he broke onto the scene
with “Superbad,” a high-school
screwball comedy that’s still
mentioned as the gold-standard
for the genre post-2000. Hill’s
performance as the boisterous,
awkward and overweight Seth
would prove both a blessing
and a curse, launching him to
stardom but pigeonholing him
as “The Fat Guy” in Hollywood.
“I became famous in my late
teens and then spent most of
my young adult life listening
to people say that I was fat
and gross and unattractive,”
Hill writes in an A24 program
given to audiences at “Mid90s”
early screenings. “It’s only in
the last four years, writing and
directing my movie “Mid90s,”
that I’ve started to understand
how much that hurt and got into
my head.”
Clearly,
“Mid90s”
was
a
watershed moment for Hill,
a creative expression of self-
discovery both as a child and
again as a young adult artist.
This is unequivocally the film’s
greatest strength; from the
opening credits to the final shot,
it’s clear that Hill has poured
his soul into this piece. The film
tells the story of Stevie (Sunny
Suljic, “The Killing of a Sacred
Deer”), a 13-year-
old who finds an
escape from his
turbulent
home
life with a group
of
high
school
skateboarders.
As the guys grow closer, each
reveals the unique struggles
and triumphs of their day-to-
day lives.
While it certainly has some
engaging character moments,
“Mid90s”
works
best
as
a
film that’s less about any one
character
and
more
about
telling the story of an era and
a niche culture within it. Hill,
both a hip hop and skating
fanatic, brings awe-inspiring
meticulousness
to the world he
depicts,
evoking
details too small,
too
personal
to
be anything but
autobiographical.
Nevertheless, these moments
never fall short of relatability,
and it’s that ability to relate the
trials and tribulations of a small
community to the collective
childhoods
of
a
national
audience. I’ve never owned a
skateboard, and I was born in
the tail end of the ’90s, and yet
Stevie’s life — his rituals, his
‘Mid90s’ charms despite hiccups
MAX MICHALSKY
Daily Arts Writer
FILM REVIEW
A24
“Mid90s”
A24
State Theatre
ARTIST PROFILE
enthusiasm, his wide-eyed awe
at his role models — felt at once
uncanny and familiar.
This
ability
to
transport
the viewer is Hill’s crowning
achievement, and the film is at
its best when it focuses more
on this labor-of-love nostalgia
and less on dramatic tension.
Unfortunately, the story that
accompanies this is filled with
ups and downs. By the film’s
conclusion, the only character
arc that feels as if it’s truly been
completed is the subplot about
Stevie and his abusive older
brother Ian (Lucas Hedges,
“Three
Billboards
Outside
Ebbing,
Missouri”).
Na-Kel
Smith brings some heart to the
film as Ray, a seemingly aloof
but kind-hearted cool guy, and
offers a handful of poignant
moments as the group’s resident
philosopher-type. In the end,
though, the film bites off more
than it can chew in its scant
84-minute
runtime
and
at
least half of its many subplots
stumble to conclusions that feel
more like a shrug.
And we need to talk about
that scene. If you’ve seen the
film, you probably know the
one I’m referring to, but if
not, be warned: Slight spoilers
ahead. There’s a sequence about
halfway through the movie
where the guys bring Stevie to
a party. On the bus ride there,
some of the guys pop adderall
and Stevie, wanting to fit in,
does the same. At the party,
Stevie drinks an entire bottle
of malt liquor and smokes
weed with his friends. Now a
veritable cocktail of substances,
he’s approached by Estee (Alexa
Demie, “Brigsby Bear”), a high
school girl who’s presumably 17
like the rest of the crew. Their
conversation turns to flirting
which turns to Estee leading
Stevie to a bedroom, and, well,
let’s just say it doesn’t stop
there.
Let’s not mince words — this
is predatory. Estee is only four
years older than Stevie, but
make no mistake: She’s a grown
woman, and his voice hasn’t
dropped yet. If that weren’t
bad enough, he’s so drugged up
that he can’t possibly consent to
what is happening. So why does
the film portray this hookup as
a victory and then never address
it again? There’s really no good
answer, and were gender-roles
reversed here (an older, sober
guy hooking up with a wasted
prepubescent girl) this scene
would be sparking outrage. It’s
not inherently wrong to portray
these types of encounters in
cinema, but to do so with such a
brazen “high-five bro!” attitude
is a head-scratching lapse of
judgement from a filmmaker
who
has
otherwise
proven
himself to be incredibly savvy
and
in-touch.
Unfortunately,
these thoughts lingered with me
for the remainder of the film’s
runtime.
While far from perfect and,
at brief moments, concerningly
ignorant
in
its
messaging,
“Mid90s” should serve as a
decent addition to the ever-
growing A24 “coming of age”
lineup. What it does well it
does really well, and what it
does poorly, well, you know.
Nevertheless, the experience
remains a net-positive, and
if nothing else serves as a
promising beginning for Hill’s
directing career. Much like the
era it portrays, “Mid90s” has
some good times and some not-
so-good times, but ultimately
carries enough charm and heart
to be worth it in the end.
A24
The cast of ‘Mid90s’ on
making it as hooligans
This
past
Thursday
afternoon I had the chance to
call into a college conference
call with Sunny Suljic, Olan
Prenatt, Ryder Mclaughlin and
Gio Galacia, four of the five
members of the cast of Jonah
Hill and A24 Entertainment’s
latest hit movie “Mid90s.”
Although this was the first
big screen appearance for all
except Suljic, the group has
actually been in the limelight
for a number of years now, at
least in Los Angeles, for their
popular skating, clothing and
cinema collective called Illegal
Civilization
(Illegal
Civ).
Friends and collaborators with
big-name musicians like Tyler,
The Creator, Frank Ocean and
Vince Staples, the group has
made several tours around
the globe as a result of their
endeavors.
Unaware of all of this going
into the movie, however, I
went into State Theatre’s free
early screening of the film
last Wednesday fairly free of
expectation, other than that
the name “Mid90s” sounded
to me like another “Dazed and
Confused” or “Kids.”
Walking in a few minutes
late, I entered to a would-you-
rather conversation onscreen
about having sex with your
mom or your dad. The group of
five friends were sitting on the
couches of the skate shop, the
workplace-turned-home for the
crew. While you’d expect to be
annoyed by this conversation,
it immediately gives us insight
into the sarcastic, carefree and
light-hearted nature of the
group.
Though their characters use
certain homophobic and racist
slurs that went unchecked two
decades earlier, this kind of
unbridled dialogue made the
characters so believable that
they retained their likeability.
I wondered to myself later
that night while discovering
a treasure trove of Illegal Civ
videos whether Jonah Hill had
indeed written everything that
ended up being said or whether
he had let the group do what
they had been doing for years
prior in their YouTube film
shorts.
Thus,
given
the
chance
the following day, I asked
them what the their working
dynamic with Jonah was to
get the dialogue right. Sunny
answered that they wanted to
make sure to get all the slurs
right, and they would often
work for an hour before each
scene talking this over. This
wasn’t really what I was looking
for, however, so I interjected —
“I just … would you guys follow
his
writing
specifically?”
To this Sunny expeditiously
responded that he had indeed
read the script, and that none
of it was improvised. Before
he could finish, Ryder chimed
in that all of the language
was put in there for a reason,
but before Ryder could finish
Sunny
interrupted
saying:
“shut the fu— yo, yo, no. I’m
sorry. Continue.” From here,
all cohesion in the conversation
was lost. Ryder replied: “What
the hell?” as all four members of
the cast laughed. When the A24
representative
tried
moving
on, Sunny shouted, “Oh shit! I
really just fucked up Ryder’s
response, I’m sorry.” From
here, Gio and Olan randomly
quoted the movie, and before
I knew it the conversation had
descended into the same kind
of headassery as many others
had in the movie.
This
hooliganism
is
just
the byproduct of the cast’s
closeness both on and off the
set. In the movie, skating turns
a group of kids from different
walks of life into a family. Much
the same is true for Illegal
Civ. Their videos on YouTube
promote
self-expression,
creativity and diversity through
the common calling of skating.
The linked video is the buildup
to selling out a show of 500 at
the Roxy Theater in LA back in
early 2017. From the start, the
collective’s positive creative
energy is contagious. The show,
for which they managed to get
Compton’s Earl Swavey and
Van Nuys’s Slow Hollows, is
a celebration of rap, trap and
rock and demonstrates how
the common bond of music can
get otherwise discrete cultural
groups dancing together like
there’s no tomorrow.
If “Mid90s” feels like a shout
for the return of ’90s skatepark
culture — a time in which
cultural barriers were broken
down for the sake of a common
love — Illegal Civilization is
answering that call. Jonah Hill
has his cast to thank for making
his musings a reality both on
and off the big screen.
BEN VASSAR
Daily Arts Writer
‘Mid90s’ soundtrack isn’t
just a period piece copout
Movie
soundtracks
are
delicate things. A soundtrack
can make a powerful sequence or
ruin one. It can enhance a line of
dialogue or overpower it. It can
flow easily or echo distractingly
out-of-place.
Soundtracks,
depending on the degree of care
a filmmaker takes to refine them,
can make or break a movie. And
for “Mid90s,” the soundtrack
is endearing and meticulously
composed.
Jonah
Hill’s
(“Maniac”)
directorial debut may seem like
just a period piece centered
around skateboarding culture,
but as the soundtrack reveals, it
is rather a heartfelt coming-of-
age story that says as much about
its period setting as it does about
Hill himself.
If you’re looking for a Best
Hits of the Decade Compilation,
look elsewhere. The truth is that
the soundtrack of “Mid90s” is
anything but cookie-cutter. It
intentionally strays from the
mawkishly overplayed singles
from the era and instead aims for
a far more personal connection
that feels both unique and
universal.
The tracklist darts effortlessly
between
genres,
traversing
Golden Age hip hop, grunge,
hardcore
punk
and
—
you
guessed it — Hungarian folk
rock.
In
particular,
“Wave
of
Mutilation”
by
the
Pixies
combines quirky chord changes
with ragged, angry vocals, a
perfect metaphor for the story’s
raging adolescence.
These are clearly songs that
Hill grew up with and remains
close to after years. He elaborated
on his thought process for
curating the soundtrack on the
“The Big Picture,” a podcast by
The Ringer.
“A large part of wanting to
be a filmmaker for me is having
music be presented the way that
I associate it,” he said. Indeed,
the track choices, despite not
being the most famous of the era,
evoke a specificity in experiences
and memories.
Perhaps the most endearing
detail was the reason for which
Hill chose the Nirvana song,
“Where Did You Sleep Last
Night” to be on the soundtrack.
“This (song) has this deep
emotional connection to me
because it was the first song I
learned on guitar,” he admitted.
The link one forms to a piece of
music strengthens substantially
when learning how to play it,
and the anecdote is a perfect
metaphor
for
the
kind
of
individualistic
attention
Hill
poured into developing the film’s
auditory texture.
Another standout from the
soundtrack is its final song, “We’ll
Let You Know” by Morrissey,
which ends the playlist with
a grounded sense of maturity.
Hill also includes songs from
previous decades as the album
goes on, such as “Watermelon
Man” by the jazz pianist Herbie
Hancock.
The soundtrack was released
as a playlist on Spotify rather
than an purchasable album, and
the form points to why “Mid90s”
is so much more than a period
soundtrack. Hill does not want
to merely drag listeners back to
another decade in time; he wants
to interact with us in a distinctly
modern form.
The unsung star of the playlist,
however, was not music from
the ’90s at all. It was the film’s
instrumental score, interwoven
between era tracks, by none other
than Trent Reznor and Atticus
Ross (“The Social Network”).
The score periodically offers
a break between the intense
period
grooves
and
forces
listeners to confront the innately
human side of the story that
Hill
expresses.
Sure,
Hill’s
unmistakably
personal
track
choices shape the experience,
but Reznor and Ross elevate
these nuances into mellifluous,
thrumming climaxes that imbue
the soundtrack with a sense of
momentum.
As Hill ingeniously intends,
a listener can walk away from
the playlist with a view into
someone’s life in the mid-90s,
not a bland aggregate of timely
music.
“To me, the title ‘Mid90s’ was
a joke,” he said, “because people
would expect it to be like that
’90s movie and then they get
this kind of small emotional,
hopefully moving film.”
The soundtrack, at least, is
undoubtedly all of these things.
ANISH TAMHANEY
For the Daily
FILM NOTEBOOK
A24
Friday, November 2, 2018 — 6A
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com