For certain filmmakers, a carefully curated soundtrack can add an extra layer of biographical texture to a passion project. We’ve seen this in recent years in the likes of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Baby Driver. Now Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s, for which entire scenes were written and shot to specific pieces of music, is taking the personal movie soundtrack a step further.
Set in Los Angeles, the film follows a 13-year-old named Stevie (Sunny Suljic), who spends his summer hanging out around a local skate shop in an effort to escape his troubled home life. Lucas Hedges co-stars as Stevie’s older brother, with Katherine Waterston playing the boys’ mother. In our first-look review from the Toronto International Film Festival, we described Mid90s as “a scrappy triumph, with heart, soul and a boundless sense of adolescent energy.”
To coincide with the film’s release, Hill has curated a playlist which is being made available exclusively on Spotify. Billed as ‘the first ever Official Motion Picture Playlist’, it marks the first time that the steaming service has collaborated with a film company in this way, and includes tracks from A Tribe Called Quest, Bad Brains, Pixes, Nirvana, Wu-Tang Clan and Cypress Hill.
The playlist is being added to throughout the film’s theatrical run, and you can now listen to the first 15 songs below.
Mid90s is released 19 October in the US.
Published 17 Oct 2018
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is a moving portrayal of adolescent isolation set within Los Angeles’ ’90s skating scene.
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We sift through the year’s finest original scores, featuring new music by Sufjan Stevens, Mica Levi and Sampha.
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