Review of mid90s (2018) by Mattio — 08 May 2020

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Bed covers, music cassettes, Ren & Stimpy -- oh the nostalgia!!

The Mid90s is a truly authentic, period-specific film about the struggles many teens go through when navigating through adolescence. Each of the core characters depicted is shown to be dealing with their own personal struggles and social issues -- be it trying to find friendship and acceptance, pursue their passions, or numb themselves to their own harsh realities.

The main character Stevie (Sunburn) played his role exceptionally well. This talented young actor really made me feel what his character was feeling. As we watched his character develop, we see him deal with domestic violence, seek acceptance and friendship, deal with peer pressure, and ultimately we see what happens to a lot of youths these days, where he tests his limits a little too far, coupled with poor decision making that ultimately leads to some potentially serious consequences.

While this is a coming-of-age film about kids growing up, it is definitely not a film for kids. Although there are some lessons to be learned here, ultimately the consequences of the actions taken seem a little too 'lucky' to me - things could have (and often does) ended up being much worse.

The directing, acting, production value, character dialogue, costume design, the sets & props, the music etc. was all top notch and on point.

Directing: 9.5/10.

Production, costumes, set etc.