Though the movie itself doesn’t lean too far away from the tropes you expect this genre, resulting in a screenplay that’s earnest but ultimately not especially unique, Hill’s direction allows his vision to flourish, establishing a key sense of this time period without the nostalgia or wistfulness that is often seen in other movies of this variety.
The results are a bold, clear-eyed, Harmony Korine-inspired reflection with honest performances and finely-crafted emotional resonance.
Sure enough, in 2018, Hill finally jumped into the director’s chair with Mid90s, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama featuring a fantastic sense of time and place, fine attention to detail, and some well-crafted performances.