Review of Mid90s (2018)
Seen in 2022.
A kid who’s bullied by his big brother and left to fend for himself by his possibly promiscuous young mother finds a sense of freedom from his domestic problems with a group of slightly older skaters in mid-’90s LA. He wins their admiration by taking pain without complaint.
Good observations throughout and good naturalistic performances from the young cast. I wonder, though, whether the focus on “Sunburn”’s adolescent liberation, double-edged at it is, is too narrow. Ray is a good alternative older brother in that narrative and the rest of the gang is adequately developed, but the girls are mainly milestones. The mother, though clearly well-intentioned and victimized by the same sexism that prevents Ruben from saying “thank you”, is shown as an obstacle. It is not clear why she cannot control Ian’s violence, but her inability to do so almost justifies her place as a villain in Stevie’s mentality, leaving no alternative for Stevie to attain his freedom but the painful, risky path of drugs and physical hazards. This specific, working-class perspective on adolescense is well executed. It is a possible near-real-life analogue of Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, including the hero’s descent into and return from the underworld, decorated here with just a little metafiction (Fuckshit immediately exemplifying how he got his nickname; Fourth Grade presenting his movie in lieu of a denouement). A broader perspective might have damaged the integrity of that underlying myth, but it worked in Fucking Åmål’s late ’90s.