Not autobiographical, but this is very personal for first-time director, Jonah Hill. He wrote it, too, about the skateboard culture he grew up in during the 1990’s. He wanted it to not only reflect that era, but through the eyes of the boys who play the lead characters.
The look of the film is important, too. The way Hill uses the technology of the time, like early interactive video games played on a TV and having one of the boys use a handheld video camera to chronicle their exploits is effective. The Director chose to shoot on 16 mm film to give it that old school look. Plus the grunge music of that period sets the time frame and the mood.
Hill has been in so many films, but attributes two to giving him the confidence to direct. Watching Michael Bennett direct him in Moneyball and Martin Scorsese in The Wolf of Wall Street, both of which drew Oscar nominations for Hill, were like Master Classes. He was ready.
So was Hill’s young lead in this film. He apparently killed it in his audition. Stevie Suljic (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) has been acting since he was 8 and was a skateboarder in Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot. Just 11 when this film was shot, Suljic plays Stevie, a 13-year-old loner. He is so young and sweet-looking, and looks so uncomfortable in his own skin. He’s got a single, working mother (Katherine Waterston) who is not the most attentive parent. He also has a nightmare of an older brother, Ian, (Lucas Hedges – Boy Erased, Ben is Back, Oscar nominated for Manchester by the Sea,) who beats him brutally on a regular basis. Stevie sometimes asks for it in a way. He wants to be big and tough like Ian, and disobeys orders to stay out of his brother’s stuff all the time.
Looking for something to do, he finds teen skateboarders hanging around a shop and observes, then slowly gets to know them. Hill cast predominately non-actors for the roles. Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, and Ryder Mclaughlin. Ryder’s the only one besides Suljac with acting experience.
Hill wanted them to be good skateboarders first, and then actors. Na-Kel Smith as Ray is the most likable of the bunch because he actually shows some values and desire to get ahead by getting out of the neighborhood. He runs the skateboard shop and is kindest to Stevie. He’s the most promising of the bunch as a character and as an actor. His scene alone with Stevie where he customizes a new skateboard for the novice shows he has a heart. Ryder plays the most reserved and tentative, bullied by Fuckshit. And Gio as Ruben who plays a tough guy but goes with the flow.
They get to know Stevie and start showing him the ropes, teaching him how to skateboard. As they start hanging together, they give him a sense of identity, not a good one at first, but he’s still learning.
The scenes of him trying to master the board are necessary but excruciating to watch. But when he finally gets to the point of being able to skate in a long shot from afar with the guys coming at you down the middle of that long road, he’s happy and free as a bird with a sense of accomplishment. The confidence shows. Hill uses that shot several times as they bond.
Sometimes their accents, especially Prenatt’s rap-like cadence playing Fuckshit being a smart ass with a big smile on his face is annoyingly hard to understand. But you’ll be able to get the gist of their interactive patter from the reactions they have to each other and from the expressions on Stevie’s face. Fuckshit’s charming in a way, but bad, manipulative and exasperating.
These may not be good role models for Stevie, but their friendship gives him a respite that makes him feel like he belongs to something. They also give him a set of firsts. He gets to dabble with smoking, drugs, alcohol, sex and getting a primary education in street life in a short period of time. You’ll cringe seeing him make bad decisions and then trying to hide them from his Mom. The restroom scene where he’s trying to get rid of the smell of smoke from breath and clothes by using liquid soap as a mouthwash is naive and stupid but somewhat funny.
You know that at some point tragedy is going to strike and it does, more than once. Scared but daring himself, he tries to skateboard over a hole on a roof and doesn’t make it. But the concern he gets from his new buddies was worth making the life-risking leap. Being seduced by the older teen, Estee (Alexa Demie) is another growing pain that gives him cred with the boys. And surviving Fuckshit’s constant dangerous decisions almost puts them all at death’s doorstep.
This is another bit of risk taking by Hill and a leap to take his career another step further. At under an hour and a half this feels like partial story that could become a more fully developed piece when Jonah Hill is more confident as a director. He wants this movie to open the door for more directorial opportunities and we think it should. We can’t consider his first effort a total success, but think he should keep on rolling.
A24 1 hour 25 minutes R
