Eighth Grade (2018)

★★★★

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An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.

Classification: 15

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The great film critic Roger Ebert has a quote to describe his love of films “For me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy” the quote goes on but this is what came to mind when viewing Bo Burnham’s directorial debut. Eighth Grade is a deep character study not just of its main character Kayla but of adolescence in general, what does it mean to grow up? How do we know that the person we are becoming is the right one? Very heavy questions to handle but Burnham’s care in crafting this film comes from such a personal place of understanding that through Eighth Grade‘s awkward comedy and anxious drama, Kayla’s journey in her last week of middle school is one hell of an empathy machine.

The film’s narrative at times feels like a series of interconnected vignettes of Kayla’s life, from her amateur motivational youtube videos, to awkward encounters at parties and to her curiosities about boys and high school. The themes of the film are draped over this all and the main driving force of the narrative is Kayla making these harsh discoveries about who she is. This isn’t a film about getting the boy in the end or finally becoming popular, the story is internal; Kayla wants to be accepted like so many others.

Burnham’s direction combined with Elsie Fisher’s lead performance is what causes the empathy machine of this film to overload and catch fire. Fisher as Kayla is delightful and from her introduction you can’t help but want to root for this girl. Burnham and Fisher never shy away from the harsh realities of adolescence being able to find a good balance of relatable awkwardness with more modern issues with todays teens. Popularity and sexuality both being features Kayla pursues but combined with social media such as Snapchat and Instagram. Burnham’s interpretation of teenage life, social media and teenage social hierarchy allows an enthralling realism to take hold of his audience, allowing actors to completely vanish and only characters remain.

This realism makes the more dramatic moments of the film much more substantial and in some cases very uncomfortable. One scene in the third act almost giving me a panic attack because of how invested you become in Kayla’s wellbeing. The cinematography keeps the film very intimate and visually enforces Burnham’s vision well and the music selection creates an immersive atmosphere. Eighth Grade’s comedy and charm comes from our subconscious understandings of Kayla’s experiences but it never loses sight of the reality of these experiences.

At times the world of teenagers seems so outlandish with either young adults portraying them in idealistic fantasies of high school, post apocalyptic dangers or really bizarre musicals. Eighth Grade strips away this sheen and shows the reality of what it means to grow up in all of its ugly glory and taps into something deeply personal. At one point or another we have been Kayla, afraid of being rejected, desperate to understand her place in this crazed world. Eighth Grade shows that this fear is part of how we grow and how that growth will benefit us for the better. Life is not perfect, very few things are and Eighth Grade shows us that facing our realities is far more rewarding than chasing our fantasies.

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Director: Bo Burnham

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Fred Hechinger

Release Date: April 26th 2019

Trailer: 

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Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews

Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database