mid90s

this movie is short, quiet, and somehow says so much with so little. i picked it because it was on the shorter side, expecting something light — and instead it hit way harder than i thought it would. i genuinely really enjoyed it. and that surprised me, because for a film that barely cracks feature length, it manages to say more about growing up than a lot of longer coming-of-age movies ever do. every scene feels intentional. nothing is wasted. i felt awful for stevie. like genuinely terrible. he’s thirteen, living in an environment where he’s constantly trying to survive rather than just be a kid — an abusive older brother, a home that doesn’t feel safe, and this desperate need to be seen and accepted. watching him cling to skate culture and older kids as a lifeline is heartbreaking, because you get why he does it, even when it’s clearly not good for him. what really stayed with me was the ending — especially the hospital sequence. after the accident, when stevie wakes up and his brother is there and hands him the orange juice. it’s such a small moment, but it’s quietly devastating. no big apology. no dramatic speech. just this tiny, human gesture that says more than words ever could. i thought it was really cute, actually. tender in a way the movie rarely allows itself to be. and then there’s the detail that honestly pushed me over the edge emotionally: finding out that all his friends stayed overnight at the hospital. they slept in the reception area just to be there for him. that was so unexpectedly sweet. it really drives home the idea that despite all their flaws, bad decisions, and rough edges, they do have good intentions. they’re not just reckless older kids dragging stevie into chaos — they care about him. they show up when it matters. and that makes everything feel more human. that said, i do wish the film explored some characters more. especially ian. there’s clearly more going on beneath all that anger and violence, and i feel like there was real potential to dig deeper into that complexity. same with the skate crew. they feel incredibly real, but i wanted more insight into who they were beyond the group dynamic — more moments that showed their individual flaws and softness. one thing the movie does really well is showing that no one here is perfect, but no one is purely evil either. everyone is flawed in their own way, shaped by their environment, still capable of goodness even when they mess up. it doesn’t excuse bad behaviour, but it contextualises it —and that feels honest. there were moments that made me deeply uncomfortable, though. especially the scenes involving stevie and the older girl. not in a “this is badly done” way, but in a “this is hard to watch” way. the age gap is uncomfortable, and knowing the actress was significantly older than the character made it even more jarring. i’m glad the film didn’t show anything explicit and handled it with restraint, but it’s still meant to make you uneasy — and it does. it really drives home how vulnerable stevie is, and how little control he actually has in situations he doesn’t fully understand yet. mid90s isn’t nostalgic or romantic. it doesn’t glamorise childhood or skate culture. it shows growing up as messy, confusing, and sometimes quietly damaging. and for such a short film, that honesty hits hard. rating: 7.8/10 raw, uncomfortable, and surprisingly tender. a short film that says a lot, trusts the audience, and leaves you thinking about how fragile kids really are. not easy — but very, very real.