Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Mid90s Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 25, 2018

There’s some debate over who exactly coined the oft repeated joke “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”, but for those young enough that the 1990s evoke pangs of wistful emotion (we older types are probably prone to look further back than the "Clinton Era" for our own personal pangs of wistful emotion), Jonah Hill’s directorial debut may be a suitable diversion. As Hill mentions repeatedly in the enjoyable commentary included on this Blu-ray release as a supplement, he had been dreaming of Mid90s for years, actually constructing sequences and individual shots in his head in preparation for his "what I really want to do is direct" moment. Some curmudgeons might suggest that Hill might have been better served to have spent more time coming up with an actual story to underpin these long fantasized about moments, for Mid90s may strike some as more of an outline for a film than a completed project. The film offers an absolutely fantastic opportunity for young star Sunny Suljic as troubled young skateboarder Stevie (kind of funnily, Suljic played another skateboarder, albeit in a much less prominent role, in Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot). Stevie is a resident of Los Angeles in the, yep, mid 1990s, an age before the internet had completely taken over everyone’s lives, and when kids still needed to occasionally, you know, go outside in order to find some kind of community. Stevie, who weathers some pretty serious smackdowns from his lunkheaded older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges), finds that community in a ragtag bunch of skateboarders who have their own little club of sorts in a less than opulent Los Angeles neighborhood.

Note: One character’s nickname in Mid90s is a combination of two expletives which may offend some readers. Those who are sensitive to such issues are encouraged to skip the rest of this review.

One of the underlying ironies of Mid90s is the fact that for all of Stevie’s family dysfunctions (and they are more than apparent throughout the film), it ultimately becomes clear that he actually has a somewhat more stable home life than some of the other skateboarders with whom he ultimately forges friendships. That fact is contrasted with the kind of subtle implication that the “community” of skateboarders Stevie is so desperate to be a part of is a “community” in name only (at least initially), with very little in the way of “communal” activities like conversation and activities other than skateboarding ever entering the picture. But Stevie’s quest for some kind of security informs the film, even if the way he goes about achieving this understandable quest is filled with the boneheaded decisions of youth.

That aforementioned “stability” at home is of course a relative term, and early vignettes document not just the kind of harrowing beatings the Stevie endures at Ian’s hands, but also the kind of heart wrenching fact that Stevie obviously still idolizes his older brother. Mother Dabney (Katherine Waterston) may be the opposite of whatever a “helicopter parent” might be, and she was a single teenage mother to Ian at least, but she also seems at least passingly concerned about what mischief Stevie in particular may get into.

Stevie teams up with a bunch of urban skateboarding kids which include Ruben (Gio Galicia), “Fourth Grade” (Ryder McLaughlin), Ray (Na-kel Smith) and “Fuckshit” (Olan Prenatt), none of whom would probably qualify as hyperarticulate, but all of whom turn out to be kind of charmingly supportive of each other, in their own halting ways. Mid90s kind of floats from vignette to vignette with this group, with Stevie getting a few lessons in the hard scrapes of life (especially when you fall off your skateboard), but with the film not really seeming to want to deliver the kind of overly “meaningful” message that so many coming of age films try to offer. Instead, Mid90s almost glories in little character beats, with quite a bit of information being delivered nonverbally, since at least some of the people inhabiting the movie are not prone to speaking in full sentences (that’s a bit of a joke, but you get my point).

But that very story element may be where Mid90s may leave some viewers wanting, if only just a little. This is an unabashed “slice of life” drama, and as such what you get is that — a slice. Hill even talks about a kind of analog in the commentary track, where he and Blauveldt mention wanting to use a stationary camera as much as possible (kind of hilariously, they talk about this at precisely the moment on of the few pans occurs). That stillness may suggest a certain static quality to this film, despite the noise and fury of marauding skateboarders, and that quality may keep Mid90s from building to the emotional catharsis it seems to be aiming for. Despite what some may feel are a few stumbling blocks, this is a film of really beautifully modulated performances, none more so than Suljic, whom I wouldn’t be surprised to see among Hill’s former Oscar category, Best Supporting Actor, when the Academy Award nominees are announced next year.

Mid90s Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mid90s is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Shot in Super 16, Mid90s has intentionally lo-fi look which is at least somewhat stylized, as Hill and Blauvelt get into in their commentary track, with an emphasis on not trying to "prettify" the often incredibly sunny Los Angeles locations. That means many of the outdoor scenes in particular have kind of harsh, overly bright appearance where fine detail can be masked at times underneath what almost looks like a slightly hazy overlay. The palette can also tend to look just slightly blanched at times due to this stylistic approach, and in fact quite a bit of the outdoor scenes tend to skew at least slightly toward yellow tones, even divorced from the sunny aspect. Several interior scenes have a slightly blue quality to them. Hill and Blauvelt go for some really up close and personal shots quite a bit of the time, and that tends to support better overall detail levels, even when lighting conditions are less than optimal. Grain can look just a tad splotchy at times, but generally resolves very naturally. While this is housed on a BD-25, the relative shortness of the feature combined with the larger black bars due to Academy Ratio may have provided more than ample "real estate" on the disc, since I didn't notice any compression issues.

Mid90s Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While not really showy in any real sense, Mid90s' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track provides consistent if sometimes subtle immersion courtesy not just of ambient environmental effects in the many outdoor scenes, but also due to the pulsing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Several "clubhouse" scenes also benefit from directionality as dialogue (such as it is) overlaps. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no problems with damage or distortion.

Mid90s Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Writer/Director Jonah Hill and Director of Photography Christopher Blauvelt


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 3:01)

Mid90s Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite a decided lack of contextualizing, and the fact that many of these characters aren't really given overly detailed accountings, virtually every person in this film is someone most audience members will care for in some degree, and that's testament to Hill's acumen in providing a connection between viewer and film. I personally wished there had been just a little bit more momentum in terms of a through line, especially with regard to the film's climax, which didn't quite tug at my personal heartstrings the way I perceived it was aiming for. Still, this is a confident debut for Hill as a director, and Suljic and the rest of the cast are all really remarkable. Technical merits are fine, and Mid90s comes Recommended.