"Eighth Grade": Memories of an Important and Uncomfortable Time

This was one of the worst theater experiences I've ever had, but the movie was worth it in the end.

"Eighth Grade" is written and directed by Bo Burnham and stars Elsie Fisher as Kayla, an awkward teen who is known for being really quiet in public but has a loud personality that she rarely displays.  The film follows Kayla's last week of the eighth grade, in which she tries to become popular while avoiding contact with her "uncool" dad.


Before covering my thoughts on this film, I feel like I need to describe the filmmaker first.  Bo Burnham is a YouTube breakout star, musician and stand-up comedian.  Even though Burnham is a comedian, he isn't very traditional in his comedic style.  He often relies on comedic songs with an emphasis on the quality of the music, and he projects a very unique personality through his on-stage persona.  He recently stopped performing because of anxiety issues, but it appears that these feelings helped inspire Burnham to create "Eighth Grade".


If "Dazed and Confused" is the 70's personified, then "Eighth Grade" is this that film for this new internet era.  These films are very dissimilar, but the way both these films generalize their generation is very similar.  The perspective of Kayla may not be exactly as one would experience, but "Eighth Grade" definitely resembles the sentiment millenials will remember from this time in their lives.


First of all, "Eighth Grade" isn't a straight-up comedy with traditional jokes.  Much of the humor comes from the spot-on portrayals of these typical middle-school personalities, and not everything that happens is humorous.  There's a lot of drama and teenage angst in almost every scene, even when nothing is really happening.  At times, this feels like a documentary because of the current pop-culture references and how all the characters look and act their age.  However, the most important aspect of this film is, much like the real-life experience of eighth grade, there are a lot of awkward moments in this film. 


I was constantly cringing throughout the runtime of "Eighth Grade" because the film was going for extreme realism, which means the younger characters act shy and very unlike adults.  Kayla had many tedious interactions with other characters because that's how people are at this age.  This works to the film's advantage because whenever someone looks back on their past actions, they're bound to regret at least a few of them.  However, there were people in my theater that constantly laughed at everything from the purposely unfunny humor to the meaningful and uncomfortable moments; either I don't have a sense of humor or a few people were being way too obnoxious.  I think much of this laughter could have been related to how the audience members dealt with the discomfort they were feeling, so maybe this is just a movie you shouldn't see in the theater.


YouTube had a large influence in Burnham's rise to fame as a teenager, so it's incorporated into parts of this film.  Kayla makes unknown YouTube videos about topics relating to emotions going on in her life, and they're probably my favorite parts of the movie.  This allows Kayla to isolate her real personality, and it's very interesting to see her act as this figure she wishes to be in public.  Not only does it come off as complex, but it also shows the range of different emotions that teenagers go through during this fragile time.


As I touched on before, all the performances are compelling and authentic.  This film does an excellent job of creating this tense and occasionally atmosphere.  The direction is somewhat playful, many times slowly following Kayla go into these uncomfortable situations.  The filmmaking is high quality, and I have minimal issues with the style.


The music is somewhat pop-influenced, but it also contains a lot of odd synthesizers and an electronic feel.  I wouldn't say that I enjoy the soundtrack, but I do think it fits the film in an odd way; the instruments feel artificial, yet the melodies seem explorative and in-the-moment. 


The ending of this film really came together for me.  Even though there was still some tense and painful awkwardness, most of the moments towards the end have a perfect message for teens struggling with the same problems as Kayla.  It's a nice, feel-good finish that made me really appreciate how dynamic this film is. 


"Eighth Grade" achieves everything it wanted to do.  Burnham had a great vision for this piece, and everything came together really well.  Even though I didn't think this film was amazing, I'm really looking forward to what Burnham does in the future.  He has shown great filmmaking fundamentals in this film and he is known for being extremely creative, inventive, and funny.  In the future, though, I'd like to see Burnham do something either a bit more serious in nature or extremely goofy.