Review of Eighth Grade (2018) by Offworld_Colony — 19 Feb 2020

A really artistically sure and universally relatable film for all ages that manages to not feel low budget and is both of it's time (more than any film I've ever seen) and also timeless in its themes.

Beyond the obvious and initial reads about social media based on legend Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade manages to cover a hell of a lot of topics revolving around being on the cusp of adulthood and finding who you are, your boundaries and how to like yourself.

The YouTube segments are brilliant, as well as all the authentic social media presence and representation in the film, but moreover they are a brilliant device to allow Kayla to speak to herself, something which is evident part way through the film; as she discovers who and how she wants to be. Elsie Fisher is sublime, she delivers simultaneously one of the funniest performances and one of the most empathetic and realistic performances I've ever, ever seen. She had me laughing with every line reading and every tic and every stumble. I fully felt like her Dad in the movie.

The Father (looking like Bo Burnham suspiciously) and Elsie's conversation around the fire had me in floods of tears. I wanted to reach out and hug her so much and thinking about her purity and her honestly in that moment has me nearly in tears the day after thinking about it. And then at the end I was laughing and crying at the same time. It's an incredibly cathartic experience for anyone who went through a reasonably traditional schooling experience.

Bo Burnham directs this film like a film and not like a documentary, and yet it's intimate, it's not artless. The music is sublime. Underscoring what she doesn’t say. It’s us viewing her world in ways we know. The soundtrack punctuates perfectly and the pervading sense of anxiety and dread in every frame and in almost everything she doesn’t want to do. Anxiety is dealt with in a really earthen and subtle way, true but not triggering. The score underscores the paradoxes of both elation and dread and the film isn't without its dark scenes; when she’s apologising after not doing anything wrong it's so painful without being disgusting or twisted. We hope she isn't left with any scars. But what blossoms is the wonder of seeing someone who acts the way they want to because it doesn’t matter if she does well to others. But just to her. The film has the air of shortly looking back, not from the perspective of someone in the 8th Grade, but someone perhaps looking back at a time capsule and remembering which is why it's used as such a clever device int he film. It portrays the youth in a knowing but also a slightly heightened way, the kind of way memory works, like Bo Burnham looking back authentically.

I was interested as to where it would go and desired for no clichés, and in that it delivers largely, the film is focused on the moments between the drama, that are the real drama. And as a character study, it's so interesting to watch how things can compound and alter a person on a week by week basis. Or when you can't stand yourself, who you used to be, who you are now, and fear who you may end up being. That spongebob moment is a great silent offering of this feeling. And wonderfully and appropriately the film is utter cringe and reminds me of the time I didn’t know who I was with aplomb. It evolves to a person finding themselves. And who hasn't had to do that at some point? Eighth grade or otherwise. There's a moment during a later Vlog where in passing she mentions "...I don't know if anyone cares..." My Fiance just yelled "We Care!" And we do. And anyone who feels alone, should try and remember this.