"Eighth Grade" - Film Review
Internet comedian and humorous songwriter Bo Burnham in the role of writer and director of a movie about an eighth-grade girl sounds, on the surface, like quite a mismatch. What could Burnham know about the very specific horrors of being a thirteen-year-old girl in the internet age? It turns out that Burnham was the perfect person for the job. Eighth Grade is both a comedy and a horror film. It’s an honest exploration of the anxiety of middle school and the out-of-body experience that is puberty. Burnham based the main character, Kayla (Elsie Fisher), on his own experiences with panic attacks and anxiety. He has explained that those feelings of anxiety remind him of the terrors of his own middle school experience.
Kayla is a loner who is voted Most Quiet by her eighth-grade classmates. Her relationship with her father (Josh Hamilton) is becoming strained, as all parent-child relationships do during the teenage years. There is an especially large disconnect between Kayla and her father because he does not understand her love for the internet. All of her free time is spent making how-to videos on YouTube and scrolling through social media sites. Her fascination with the online world is like a foreign language to her more outdoorsy dad. The film takes place during the last week of middle school before summer vacation, with high school looming. As scary as starting a new school may be, Kayla is excited about the blank slate that high school will bring.
Because of the many videos Burnham created in the early years of YouTube, he has an understanding of the internet and its culture that surpasses most. It leaves him particularly poised to take a critical look at how technology is impacting young people as they come of age. The generation that Burnham highlights is interesting because it is the first generation to grow up with no knowledge of a world without the internet. These kids were hyper-connected, yet somehow lonelier. Today, school is only one of many places where they have to worry about being judged. They’re also forced to worry about their online presence and how many followers they have or how many “likes” they get on their photos. It’s a new set of superlatives.
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Eighth Grade is cringe-inducing. It’s so hard to watch because it perfectly portrays the abject terror of being thirteen, lonely, and pity-invited to the pool party of the most popular girl in school by that girl’s mom. There is also the incredibly stressful “truth or dare” game that Kayla plays in a car with an older boy (Daniel Zolghadri) that ends with tears. The fact that Burnham understands how world-destroying these scenarios feel is a testament to the respect he has for the growing pains of middle school. On the flip side, the film contains joyful scenes that show the happier side of growing up. These include Kayla’s excitement when she finally finds another person who is her same brand of weird and the love Kayla experiences when she finally lets her dad into her world.
The film ends with one last vlog that Kayla makes for her future high school self. It’s a series of hopes for the coming years and encouragement to keep going. It’s a shame that the MPAA gave Eighth Grade an R rating, because it takes an honest look at the fears and concerns of young people at that age. Burnham treats those concerns with love and compassion. He also used actual eighth graders, which is a welcome change from people in their late teens or early twenties playing five or ten year younger. It adds a realism that actual eighth graders living through these circumstances can truly relate to. Eighth Grade is a carefully constructed love letter to the messy, confusing years of middle school, and a reassurance to those going through it that things will eventually be okay.
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