Why does Mid90s look so dark?

[jee]

Hey! New member here.

I watched Mid90s the other day and I'm wondering why the Blu-ray transfer looks so underexposed? Is it a result of filming on 16mm film?

[PDB]

Never seen the film but the fact it was shot on 16mm wouldn't make it dark. A film shot 16mm stock should have the same range but not resolution of 35mm.

So if its too dark its either a bad transfer or intentional and stylistic (using natural lights, underexposed on purpose, certain film processing, etc).

[jee]

Thank you for the reply. I doubt it's a bad transfer, as I would belive Jonah Hill and A24 knows what they're doing. But it still irks me.

I just find it strange that every single Blu-ray reviewer fail to mention that the movie is muddy. They go into all this technical detail about grain, resolution, artifacting etc, but fail to spot how the transfer clearly looks underexposed. It's just baffling.

Since I'm unable to upload screenshots, I'm linking to Google images instead.
Here's a few that illustrate my point. Notice how most scenes just turn into dark mush, even in scenes shot in broad daylight.

https://productplacementblog.com/wp-cont...Mid90s.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDK0eX4WwAAET_n.jpg
https://www.dvdizzy.com/images/m/mid90s-01.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/dd/59/...23852f.jpg
https://consequenceofsound.net/wp-conten...quality=80

[spaceboy710]

I believe I read somewhere that he Hill was going for something that looked like handheld video camera footage from that time period. There are lots of skateboarding compilations from that time period that I believe he took inspiration from.

Those stills also really remind me of the look of the 1995 film KIDS, which I would also have to assume was in some way an inspiration.

https://www.framerated.co.uk/frwpcontent...68x491.jpg

I don't exactly remember how MID-90S looked in theaters but I do remember it looking rather dark.

[jee]

spaceboy710, you make a good point with Kids. I guess the underexposed look is supposed to enforce the gritty aesthetic in Mid90s.

Thank you.