The skate scene has always been an endless wellspring of fascination for writers and directors, from Kids to this summer's all-girl skate crew flick Skate Kitchen. It just so happens to be the subject of actor Jonah Hill's directorial debut: a coming of age, 90s nostalgia trip set in Los Angeles, appropriately titled Mid90s.In the first trailer for Mid90s, Sunny Suljic stars as Stevie, a 13-year-old going through classic rites of passage—spats with his older brother (played by Manchester by the Sea's Lucas Hedges), the ubiquitous "don't go into my room" line before getting pummeled, and falling in with a group of skaters where he finds refuge, much to his brother's chagrin.During the development stages in 2016, Hill told Collider that he aims to buck the "80s cowabunga kind of trope" and lean into "the tone of Kids." The trailer already looks somewhat similar to Harmony Korine and Larry Clark's 1995 iconoclastic cult favorite about a group of skate kids tearing up New York City during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The fact that Mid90s set in around the same time mints that aspect of the callback, though we'll have to wait to see whether the film holds up in depth and cultural importance.A24 has been leaning into the coming-of-age films lately: Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Eighth Grade all focused on lending a realness to the types of youth-focused narratives that larger blockbusters tend to overdramatize or gloss over. Mid90s might tap into the same nostalgia and emotional depth as Greta Gerwig's summer hit, but for a different target audience.Jonah Hill's Mid90s hits theaters on October 19, 2018.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow Nicole Clark on Twitter.
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