Review of Eighth Grade (2018) by Edwin C — 19 Oct 2018

Honestly I find Bo Burnham to be the most unfunniest comedian but he did a good job in writing this film. This film is about an introverted girl who is about to finish her eighth grade about to go to high school. And as most of us do, she feels the nervousness of entering high school for the first time.

Elsie Fisher portrays Kayla, and I think this character is really well written. She's an introverted girl but she actually has a lot to say but she says it to a camera on her YouTube channel just to build up her confidence. But those YouTube videos only get 0 to 1 view. She records herself giving life advice but it's almost as if she's saying all that to herself to gain confidence.

Knowing Bo Burnham, he's a comedian who makes jokes by singing them in tone and in music. He directs Eighth Grade with a good choice of music to accompany the film as well.

The film touches on depression and anxiety as most teenagers, especially girls in that age gap, have mostly suffered according to research on the net (don't quote me on this). The film shows us how a girl takes selfies just to feel better even though she doesn't get any likes, and how she lies about having nude pics just to get a boy to talk to her.

The script and dialogue also includes a lot of "ums" and "like" which is pretty much what most of us use in our daily conversation. In film theory, we call this verisimilitude (I just learned this in class), which means something that is likely to be true in that situation or time period in context of the film.

Elsie Fisher really carries this film throughout and she has a bright future up ahead. Bo Burnham did a very good job for his first directorial debut and I actually think I'd enjoy his films more than his standups.

Favourite Quote: Confidence is a choice.