Kid 90

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 had some cool footage but got boring quick. Never really goes anywhere. Kind of like watching someones home videos. Great for them but not interesting for anyone else. Still it was cool to see all the teen celebs from that time. They partied and had problems just like us regular kids. (I was 17 in 1990). Worth a watch if you're from that era but don't expect much. Soleil does seem like a nice person.

Let me start with two things-I usually disagree with most reviews and as a 90's kid this was up my alley. But the reviews got it right this time. There's lots of great home footage which as expected is all famous people. But as others stated, when a narrative developed the film would immediately cut and move on. As an example, even when the death of a friend happened, it would be difficult to surmise whom. No picture of a news article or archive news footage, not even a current interview about how much the lost friend meant. I can't imagine losing one of my childhood friends, creating a film for Hulu and not honoring them with 30 seconds. Other topics get the same treatment which is what makes reviewers say JUMBLED and NARCISSISTIC to which I agree. Having said that, the footage existed and I don't blame her, having grown up famous. But it could have told a much deeper story in better hands.

There are many documentaries about child stars, but very few made by the star themselves. She could have spun it to make herself look like a hero, but instead, she presented unfiltered glimpses into her life in the 90s, complete with all of the raw emotions she was experiencing at the time. Nowadays, every teenager has video footage of their life that could later be edited into a documentary, but for a teenager to capture video footage like this in the 90s was extremely rare. Self-made documentaries of this type will likely become much more common in the future, especially now that there are vloggers recording every moment of their lives, but this may well be the only one of its kind from before the turn of the millennium.

I was very excited to see what kind of 90s goodness would be in these home videos. For the first half of the movie or so, I was ok with it. The longer it went on, the more it just became all about Soliel. And I don't just mean that she was the main subject; she is the intended audience. As she reads through more diaries and poems and looks back on moments that are only interesting for her, it becomes clear that this project was put together solely for her "growth." That might have been ok if it was the least bit entertaining, and it first it seems like it might be, but that stops as things get more repetitive. You can see in her current day interview footage how proud she is that she has learned so much by looking back at these tapes, but we don't get much out of the deal.