Year: 2018
Director: Bo Burnham
Country: US
Language: English
Previously cinema was filled with coming-of-age flicks that were centred around teenage boys (Submarine, Boyhood). More recently we've had hit after hit about the experiences of girls (Ladybird, Edge of Seventeen) These semi-autobiographical pictures, often directed and written by women, feel quite honest and vulnerable. Even though I'm of different gender and of different time (I was an adolescent 10+ years ago) than the character, I feel like I've had very similar experiences.
An introverted teenage girl named Kayla (Elsie Fisher) tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
Bo Burnham, a millenial writing about generation Z, delivers a sweet, understanding portrait of a particularly brutal and rejection-inflected period. He resists making his character too self-aware, ensuring a naturalistic performance from his lead actress Elsie Fisher. Her character’s crutch of vocalized pauses and resistance to eye contact, captures what it feels like to exist in an unwelcoming world and feel alone.
The film's balancing act of coming-of-age comedy and dramatic depiction of teenage insecurity is remarkable. The style of humour is close to cringe-comedy, but it doesn't detract from the emotional character study unfolding in front of our eyes. Older viewers might have trouble relating to Kayla's world, as it is dominated by gadgets, but I still found it quite relatable.
Eighth Grade is full of Universal lessons that will appeal to all ages, no matter how far from eighth grade you are. An absurd and yet heartbreaking picture, it\s one of the best from 2018 and will likely be remembered for decades to come.
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