Eighth Grade

Eighth Grade

Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Catherine Oliviere

Directed by Bo Burnham

The Story:
Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is a shy eighth grader who also posts motivational videos on YouTube, but never getting any hits.  She endures school, including seeing her popular crush Aiden (Luke Prael), as something that could be reached but also seemingly impossible.  When she's invited by popular girl Kennedy's (Catherine Oliviere) mother to Kennedy's birthday party, she shows anxiety and tries to break out of her shell.

After shadowing senior Olivia (Emily Robinson), Kayla earns a new friend and gets to spend some time with Olivia and her other friends at the mall, all the while being watched by her well-meaning, yet bumbling, father Mark (Josh Hamilton).  Kayla wonders if she brings sadness to her father, and deals with the fears and pressures of becoming a teenager as she tries to find the good in life.

The Synopsis:
Eighth grade is hell.  I don't really remember my eighth grade year (since it was like over twenty years ago), but I can just imagine how it feels for kids today.  Back in my day, we didn't have Internet or any of the modern gadgets kids have today, and while it would've been easy for first-time director Bo Burnham to focus the film entirely on how teenagers are always linked to their phones, he doesn't beat us against the head with it.  Instead, he uses the technology the kids use in the film to show how it can deeply affect a kid's psyche, and while it does include some cliches (such as the popular girls always focused on their phones), it serves as a reality-based effect to show that being a kid is hard, especially for young Kayla.

Kayla is a quiet, subdued girl who still manages to find enough inner strength to put herself out there on YouTube, making motivational videos the way only an eighth grade girl can - by forgetting what she's talking about, repeating herself, using words like "um" and "like" way too much, and just being befuddled and uncomfortable throughout, even as she tries to assure her viewers about the importance of being yourself and putting yourself out there.  Newcomer Elsie Fisher (who herself was thirteen while filming, adding a deeper sense of reality to the film since she's not a twenty-something trying to play a teenager) truly shines here as the awkward, uncomfortable Kayla.  We feel bad for her, and there's so many moments in the film we find ourselves cringing at the social stumbles she makes - she tells the popular girl she likes her shirt, and that she also has a shirt.  Kayla isn't a polished, sophisticated, popular girl - and she seems to know it.

The film was written and directed by a 27-year-old male, but somehow he managed to encapsulate what it's like for an awkward girl about to head into her high school years in a way that's pure magic.  We see the world through Kayla's eyes, but we also get to see the world in her as well.  She wants to motivate others, but it's really a way for her to motivate herself.  She's awkward, shy, and doesn't know how to interact in general social situations, and it's these insecurities that make her an even more relatable person.  Eighth grade is hard, with all the fears of approaching high school and the uncertain future that comes with it, and we witness this world through Kayla's eyes, and it's moments we won't soon forget.

It's very hard to review a film like this, because there's so much going on in such a short amount of time.  We see Kayla struggling to appreciate her father Mark, as he tries to talk to her through headphones and just trying to be the best single father he can be, but royally screwing things up (such as watching her at the mall while she's with her friends).  Mark means well, but he does serve as the typical embarrassing parent most kids deal with growing up, until a surprisingly emotional scene between the two around a fire.

There's Kayla's crush, who's of course the most popular, beautiful boy at school, and we witness her awkward interactions with him that cause us to cringe in our seats in moments of solidarity.  When she wants to speak out more and be popular, she reaches out to the most popular girl in school, and again it ends with a cringe-worthy moment that goes to show an eighth grader isn't a polished public speaker.

Then there's the music, which swells in surprising moments that seem to occur in Kayla's own mind, and delivered by the great Anna Meredith.  When she sees her crush, the music swells.  When she fears going out to the popular girl's pool at her birthday party, the music swells (as well as some amazing camerawork that makes you feel like Kayla is thrust into her most scary horror movie).  The music is used brilliantly, adding to the depth of character that Fisher delivers, an actress wise beyond her years.

The Summary:
Beautifully encompassing the good, bad, and ugly of being an eighth grader, director Bo Burnham delivers a compelling, powerful film featuring standout star Elsie Fisher as a girl who showcases the good, bad, and ugly in us all.

The Score: A+