Jonah Hill makes his feature directing debut from his own script with Mid90s, the best movie ever made about skater culture and a powerful movie about familial dysfunction and the need for friendships. Sunny Suljic (The House with a Clock in Its Walls) gives a breakout performance as Stevie, a kid living in a single parent household with a headcase older brother, Ian (Lucas Hedges). Stevie suffers massive beatings at the hands of Ian and goes to a messed-up place where he causes himself further pain with self-inflicted strangulation, skin burns and simply pressing on the bruises Ian created. In short, the kid has some major issues. In search of some kind of identity, Stevie grabs himself a skateboard and starts hanging around some older kids at the skate shop. As Stevie’s social life takes off, his home life further withers, including increasing violence from Ian and some communication problems with his mother, Dabney (Katherine Waterston of Alien: Covenant). Hill does an expert job showing how important skating and these new friends are to Stevie in his development. The director doesn’t shy away from the bad influence some of them provide—influences present in just about every high schooler’s life. Suljic, a solid young actor, proves to be the perfect pick for Stevie.
Mid90s
