Eighth Grade
A24
Literally all my worst childhood memories take place in middle school. Eighth grade was far from chill for me. I was just realizing how to fight back against bullies though I was still prone to full-on meltdowns. I was awkward, nakedly anxious, and just dipping my toe into a binge eating disorder that would continue all throughout high school. As this was in the early aughts there is a lot of evidence of this horrible time in my life on the internet, but luckily this was before I had access to things like Myspace, Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram. Bo Burnham, a highly intelligent comedian and YouTube phenom, has encapsulated not only the horrible feeling of being fourteen, but the equally horrible one of displaying that time in your life for the whole world to see. This is one of the most painful films I have ever seen and that is its highest praise.
Amateur actress Elsie Fisher plays Kayla Day, an unsure, shy, reclusive eighth grader on the cusp of graduating middle school and transitioning into high school. Kayla was definitely me around this time: painfully self-aware, uncomfortable, and unable to find common ground with her much cooler peers. Kayla doesn’t have a lot of friends, though she is always positive that once she fundamentally changes everything about herself she can break through into a higher echelon. She makes vlogs on YouTube giving advice to other kids about how to be confident or how to put themselves out there, without taking her own advice. Kayla is a painful character to watch, because her open vulnerability is bare in its brilliance. Elsie Fisher makes this film groundbreaking by giving a strong and subtle performance that blew me away. While many films have exemplified the teenage experience, there’s few that really delve into the awkward era of middle school, a time wherein no child is happy, and your survival is dependent on keeping your head down and powering through.
The supporting cast is amazing as well. Burnham handpicked most of the kids, and several teachers, from one specific middle school. Josh Hamilton plays her father, Mark, and gives one of the most heart-wrenching performances I have ever seen. The trope of the father trying to connect to his teenage daughter has been seen before. This film shows his fruitless attempts at connection and his own self-sabotage when confronted with the fact that he too can be a vulnerable and pathetic character. The final ten minutes of the film felt revelatory, though these are simple scenes.
The technical aspects of the film were stellar, including the bass heavy score and music by Anna Meredith, and the maverick cinematography by Andrew Wehde. Small moments of quiet desperation are framed like huge set pieces, and more important moments are given the space they need to breathe. Burnham has blown away critics and audiences alike, which is not all that surprising if you watch any of his recent comedy specials, which called for constant direction and perfect timing. Recently he has also directed comedy specials for Chris Rock and Jerrod Carmichael, so hopefully this gem isn’t the only film that he releases. Burnham has said in interviews that he made the film in part because he was an especially anxious teenager. It is that passion to bring authenticity to his art that I valued the most, and is a trait that we could use more of in the world today.
