Warning: spoiler ahead.
“Wow, that was a pretty explicit movie” — my first thought when I finished watching Mid 90’s at a theater nearby my house.
I was a little baffled, and I did not know how I should feel about the film at first. There was definitely toxic masculinity and homophobic remarks portrayed in the movie. Like Jonah Hill, the director of the film expressed that, “within the film, there is strong language—homophobia, misogyny, and avoiding intimacy at all costs.” Then, I kind of realized why the cashier asked me to show my ID. It still not resolved my confusion regarding the moral of the story of the movie though.
A scene where it was implied that Stevie (Sunny Suljic), a minor, had a sexual relationship with Estee (Alexa Demie).
I told my best friend about my confusion of the takeaways from the film while driving back home from the theater. Then he goes on, “it just to show the reality, you know? It’s not those type of cliché movies that just show how two people end up falling in love with each other.” He put some truth into that, it is not really a saccharine movie. It is the type of film that shows what real life actually looks like. That scene where Estee is enticing Stevie (a minor) into sexual activities happens in the real world.
It is a movie that reminds me that life is moving fast and as we grew up and we can get lost trying to find where we belong. Then also it tells us the roles of family in our life. Although blood-related family placed the top priority in most individuals’ lives, it is guaranteed that not all families are ideal. You can come from a broken family that can make you feel unloved, unwanted or plainly unsupported.
It was a movie that lets the viewer be the judge of it. Its like, “here we give you the truth of what the reality is like, these things happen, you might be able to relate or not, and we let you do the judging.” Hill also explained, “That (strong language) was taught, and I wanted to show those things explicitly and honestly, to show the lessons we as a culture had to unlearn,” And he did just that, effortlessly natural in the film.
The movie is not all just solely focus on the culture and realities of it, but it also show the true friendship. When Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt) dragged Ray (Na-Kel Smith) outside of Ray’s house and helped him out of a rough patch, that is what a real friend is about. It is not just the kind of friendship where you only talk when you meet them and go, “are you okay?” But the type of friends that literally came out to your doorstep and make your day a little better. We all need that type of friend.
Aside of all that, this movie does a remarkable job showing the skate culture in the mid-’90s—the well-suited hip-hop music, 90’s vibes, and the fashionably vintage clothing. It feels like you’re in LA in the ’90s.
Mid 90’s is not at the theater anymore, sadly, but you can pre-order the movie through this link. Enjoy!