OnScreen Review: "Eighth Grade"
Ken Jones
- Chief Film Critic
For most kids, being a teenager is rough. It’s full of uncomfortable and embarrassing moments, situations, and events. Puberty hits everyone at different stages and there’s the difficult task of starting to figure out how to start being more like an adult with your own distinct identity and everything that entails. Plus, other kids can be unsparingly cruel. The coming of age tale is a well-worn trope in movies, and it seems like every year there is at least one or two that stand out. Few, though, capture the painful awkwardness of this better than Eighth Grade, a terrific indie film from comedian Bo Burnham.
I was in the eighth grade in 1995. A lot has very clearly changed since then, but there was a lot of material in this film that resonated with me. As an introvert myself, I could easily relate to Kayla (Elsie Fisher), the quiet and shy teen at the center of this movie who at times feels like she is just trying to survive her last week of eighth grade. Living with her father in a middle class home, Kayla is doing her best to fit in to the world around her. While the culture of 14 years olds in 2018 is very different than the culture I experienced in 1995, attempting to fit in, and equally to not stand out for the wrong reasons, is still at the heart of everything that is going on.
A big part of adolescence is carving out your identity, which is kind of like trying on different versions of yourself and finding the one that you’re most comfortable in. Kayla makes YouTube videos talking about her life, probably because she saw others doing it and getting a huge amount of hits. Her videos have not found an audience, most of them even have zero views. They are her attempts at profundity and insight into teen life, but she is very clearly trying to be something she is not, perfectly encapsulated by her upbeat and cringe-worthy signoff of “Gucci!” Kayla’s disappointment with where she is as an eighth grader is compounded by the opening a time capsule that she left for herself back in sixth grade.
Sometimes by her own volition and sometimes against her will, Kayla attempts to step out of her comfort zone. The forced social interaction comes in the form of being uncomfortably invited to a pool party for a popular girl in her class by the girl’s mother who was appreciate of Kayla’s dad Mark (Josh Hamilton) helping out at a fundraiser. The moment of Kayla standing by herself in the corner of the swimming pool while everyone else is talking in little groups would almost certainly have been me in that situation.
The interaction of her own volition comes when she goes to the high school for a day to shadow a student and befriends the girl who is taking her around school for the day. Kayla comes alive in these moments; it’s one of the few moments in the film where she’s actually laughing and enjoying herself. And it results in hanging out in the mall food court with high schoolers and getting a glimpse of what her future could be like. Of course, her venture into high school waters also leads to a bad experience and a reality check of what pressures await her as a teenage girl.
I loved Josh Hamilton’s performance as her father. Their relationship is the typical one between a father and a teenager. She is easily embarrassed by him, and he leans into the awful dad jokes and things that embarrass her. He is also proud and confident in his daughter and most of the time gives her the proper amount of space, with one exception where she catches him spying on her at the food court. It’s not even out of concern that he does it, but because he’s happy that’s she’s making friends.
Elsie Fisher’s performance as Kayla is incredible as well. She is in every scene and perfectly embodies the insecurity and uncertainty of being a particular kind of teenager. She also embraces the look of a typical teenager, rather than a Hollywood whitewashed version of one. Her shoulders slouch, her acne is very visible, and her clothes are ill-fitting. She nails the cadence of someone trying to speak extemporaneously when they’re not someone who is comfortable speaking in front of people or a naturally outgoing person.
Eighth Grade is an uncomfortable film because it’s about insecurity and awkwardness and uncertainty. But it’s also strangely affirming and hopeful in its own way. Fisher is a promising young actress and Burnham is a promising young director. It’s an insightful film that should end up on a lot of year-end lists.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars