Review of Eighth Grade (2018) by K Nife C — 17 Jul 2018

As adulthood progresses, it's easy to forget the minutiae of junior high school and with good reason. Those formative years seemed so boring yet anxiety ridden. Basic social interactions were nerve-wracking, the future was dauntingly imminent, and there was no release from the stress of the unknown except through reverting to childlike behavior - the one thing you should never do when you're supposed to be "growing up". When you "become an adult", you know what to do most of the time, or at least what you're supposed to do.

It's easy to look back on those years you lived and disassociate as if you were somehow incomplete or different then, but it's a lie to help you forget how difficult it all was. Every kid in this film lives in and around their phones and the internet. Eighth Grade is almost a horror film in this regard. All of those hormones, insecurities, and first encounters with the outside world must seem hyper-real or unreal as kids essentially have a spoiler alert for everything from sex to death. Of course, this leads to some of the films most comical moments as well as some of its most harrowing. If it's effective at anything, you can't help but inhabit Elsie Fisher's character Kayla in all of her emotional shades and feel that old familiar sting.

The cast are all completely endearing, and the setting feels lived in. If you've been looking for the next film to capture the naivete and discovery of childhood after Room or The Florida Project, here's your next fix. This is a well made film firmly grounded in the now. But in another way, it's a horror film in the same aspect that Ingrid Goes West is frightening. The implication left by these movies is that our culture and how we perceive and interact with each other is at a precipice in human history, and there's no going back bar some even more catastrophic event like an EMP.

Director Bo Burnham was in on the ground floor of Youtube viral culture. He has attempted to make a film about how sad and scary, yet innocent and pure (his words not mine) the internet can be as a venue to everyone. I think he's high on his own supply, riding a wave of popularity. He's one of the lucky ones. For as feel good as this movie can be, and there are some deeply affecting moments in here, little Kayla is living in a privileged bubble. For as much as she's learned and even taught herself, she has no clue what she's in for. For as emotionally helpful Instagram and Youtube can be for her, they are not going to prepare her for when reality hits.