Kid 90

Kid 90_720p(480P)

source: Kid 90

I thought this was going to be a lot of raw footage of the actors/actresses in the 1990's. It was more about Soliel's life journey and mostly focused on the bad things that happened or life changing experiences. There was not as much footage as there was interviewing different people. It was not a terrible documentary, but not what I was expecting. I guess if you are a really big fan of one actor/actress and want to watch a 1 second clip of them, then this is for you.

I'm glad she was able to put the archival footage together in a film. But she doesn't go into too much detail about some of the people in it. She speaks in very vague and juvenile adjectives "he was sweet and I could tell he was sad". As a forever fan of Jonathan Brandis, it was nice to see candid footage of him. But it felt as if she took advantage of his friendship. I just see someone who was surrounded by people gushing over her but I didn't see her giving much back. Perhaps that's why the documentary felt so empty- she was so self-absorbed that she literally had nothing meaningful to say about other people. "New York is when I met the skaters and the punks". Ok. What more can you tell us about these people? What more can you tell us about the subculture and the scene? Finally we saw she had a Black friend in NY, but apart from that, not much of a diverse group. If it weren't for this footage, I doubt she would remember much of anything.

This is an interesting story of how live is lived when you're semi-famous, plenty of money and connections, but a complete disconnect to Christ. Good story and raw. It ends with increasing the focus on finding and elevating "self love". These people continue to miss the point of why we're here.

In 2021's Kid 90, the "kid" I guess is child actress Soleil Moon Frye. Frye was on a hit TV series titled Punky Brewster. I haven't heard from Soleil in quite some time and now she's resurfacing as a reflective 44-year-old. I also didn't realize that Frye was once involved in a romantic tryst with bad boy Charlie Sheen (who knew). So yeah, Kid 90 is a documentary where people mumble, indulge, and pander. It's heavy on archive footage, heavy on zigzagging, heavy on F-bombs, and slight on narrative. Said footage is fascinatingly grainy yet gimmicky and plodding. Actors like David Arquette, Brian Austin Green, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Stephen Dorff show up to do present-day interviews about their relationship with Frye. It seems Soleil had a lot of Hollywood buddies despite being off the A-list since well, '88. Showing 90s footage of teenage actors partying and revealing that 8 people associated with Moon Frye died at incredibly young ages (20-30 give or take), Kid 90 chronicles Soleil and her circle of friends through video, voice messages, pictures, and revealing diary notes. It's obvious that Soleil got permission from almost everyone involved. Otherwise there'd be no movie. Kid 90 has Soleil Moon Frye's commitment and the stunted footage she accumulates over time is quite impressive. But hey, where's the story here? And where's the focus? And what are we the audience suppose to feel about Soleil? Are we suppose to make out sympathy for her even though she's worth about $5 million? It depends on your views I guess. And is her plight about wanting the viewer to see something of yore suppose to make a statement? I'm not sure. Kid 90 is not a vanity project per se. It just feels unnecessary and moot considering that Moon Frye never broke out of her Penelope shell. Mixed review "kiddo".

Wow. I didn't know quite what I was about to watch when I started this. What I knew was that it would be relevant if you were a kid in the 90's like I was. I had also heard that it's very heavy. What I didn't know is that precisely what it is is basically an honest dive into the video diary of late 80's/early 90's child star Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) and her slow burn out of child stardom and into...well, the harshness of reality. The 90's were the last decade before the internet and social networking would change our life experience forever. There was a magic in the energy of society and in our human existence that will never be there again. If you were like me, and apparently Soleil was, we brought our video camcorders with us as often we could, and we recorded as much as we could. For about 2 decades, Soleil put all this footage away, and didn't touch it - but now she's decided to take it all out and bring us a story from her experiences. Now, I'm gonna be honest, there's not one true focus with this documentary - it's not that simple, but it's one of the most from-the-heart, personal things I have seen put into the format of film in quite some time. The primary thing that I took from this personally is that even movie stars are no different than a lot of us when it comes to the experience of growing up - we're naive, we find our people, then we slowly drill our way into the abyss of conscious reality together without even realizing what's happening. Though this movie is only 82 minutes long, it brings you on the most touching, nostalgic, and eventually tragic rollercoaster so, so quickly, and effectively. The tragic part is that when you're a star, you're generally enabled - you're able to stall out on letting reality catch up to you. Generally, drug use is tied to that. In this case, that all leads to deaths, and in Soleil's case, so many of her friends died it's actually insane. There's a lot to take in here - those who are still alive feel like they are so lucky to be, and a lot of them seem to have a very deep understanding for the suicidal. I can't say much more, but I always thought Soleil Moon Frye was extremely likable - now I think she's an angel on Earth, and I'm very happy she's still alive. I feel some of her pain, and through watching this, I stop and think less about my own pain, and more about the pain of every single person on this planet. Really, everyone should watch this - but even more so if you were a kid in the 90's or gave even the slightest interest in 90's pop culture. After writing this, I almost want to watch it again already. I feel like these people are my friends now. I had no idea that all these young 90's actors were homies who partied together full time. I mean, I used to lie to kids when I was little and tell them Brian Austin Green (90210) was my older brother, and he's one of the leads in this. I feel so connected somehow. It's emotional as hell and completely beautiful. Watch it.

The point being, Hollywood and "celebrity" is not a place for anything close to a real relationship. This had potential but ultimately it felt like some odd type of narcissistic tone poem. We quickly skate over people who were friends of hers and who are now dead. She waxes romantically over an odd relationship with Charlie Sheen whose name for some reason cannot be mentioned. We see footage of 90s celebs and hear poetic musings. There is some acceptance of having not really listened to people's pain but frankly, it feels like lip service. It's not her "fault." They were all kids f'd up by Hollywood and not seemingly capable of deep and true friendship - at least as far as this doc shows. It made me sad in a way that was not its intent. She just seemed to gather celebs around her and had the perfect personality to keep them in her orbit i.e., not one to get too emotional or invested in someone else which leaves them free of any kind of feelings of responsibility for someone else. Perfect. But the few who saw the emptiness and couldn't take it? They're dead.

Nostalgia. Time capsule. Beautiful times. Took me back to childhood memories I had forgotten. Thank you for making this film Punky Brewster.

If they named and described this documentary what it really is, "the life of Soleil Moon Frye", no one would watch it. So instead they dupe you with the description "young Hollywood stars growing up in the 1990s". I kept watching it hoping they'd show more 90's child stars, but the more I watched the more it became only about Soleil. Although it was somewhat interesting, it was more of a disappointment than anything as I expected to hear about the other child stars and what happened to them. They only show a bunch of 5 second clips of the others from her old recordings.