Review: Eighth Grade

The honest voice of Generation Z

Kayla was actively trying to forget her experiences at Band Camp … while she was still there …

Director: Bo Burnham

Writer: Bo Burnham

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Daniel Zolghadri, Luke Prael, Catherine Oliviere, Josh Hamilton

Synopsis

In the last week of her eighth grade (the last year of middle school, before the transition to high school), an introverted fourteen year old girl, Kayla (Elsie Fisher), tries to navigate the emotional roller-coaster of her desire to be more popular, discovering her sexuality and becoming comfortable in her own skin.

Main review

Bo Burnham is an exceptional writer, but until now his writing has been in the realm of stand up and musical comedy. A well known name in the international comedy community, he’s been active since his musical comedy first became a viral sensation on YouTube over a decade ago. While clearly a talented performer, his abilities as a filmmaker were unknown. What Eighth Grade shows is that the man is as a remarkable a writer/director as he is a comedian.

What is so galvanising about Eighth Grade is its exceptional honesty, and this is very much down to a combination of two things; Burnham’s script and the performance of Elsie Fisher, as Kayla. Much in the same way that John Hughes was able to capture the adolescence zeitgeist of the 1980s, Eighth Grade is able to capture a completely believable voice of ‘Generation Z’. This a generation whose lives have been influenced by social media in a way even more endemic than the experience of millennials (aka ‘Generation Y’).

Fisher is a revelation as Kayla; a performance that feels naturalistic, honest and hilariously awkward as would be expected of shy, fourteen year old girl, who is trying to find her voice in the world. Fisher, only fifteen years old at the time of filming, presents one of cinema’s most believable teenagers in a long while. Kayla’s acne is ever present, she feels awkward in her own skin and Kayla’s exploration of her own developing sexuality is hilariously awkward, as it rings true to the experience of adolescence.

Burnham’s writing is really able to get these themes across with both subtlety and efficiency. Kayla’s emotional journey is framed through her broadcast of self-help YouTube videos that brilliantly contrast the sort person Kayla strives to be, compared to the personality she expresses at school, or in social situations. This is a classic theme of ‘coming-of-age’ films, but the way that Burnham’s script is written makes Kayla’s arc feel like a very intimate (and honest) exploration of the experience of Generation Z.

Further to this, Burnham directs the film with a naturalistic eye, choosing to shoot a lot of handheld footage, using natural light. As a result, Eighth Grade doesn’t feel particularly cinematic. However, the cinematography does make the film feel like a documentary to a certain extent, which adds to the sense of naturalism. It’s clear that Burnham didn’t have that much of a budget to work with (the film only cost $2 million), but he makes the most of it.

Much like 2018’s Blockers, Eighth Grade chooses to focus on the female experience of adolescence; examining that teenage girls are as much sexual beings as teenage boys. However, Eighth Grade is also has a very potent message about consent. Kayla does have an (very subtle) equivalent moment to that moment in American Pie, but there is also a later scene, which is unconformable (for both Kayla and the audience), because it highlights the insidiousness of gaslighting …

Eighth Grade is a remarkable film to have been produced by a first time writer-director. Not only is the film superbly written, stunningly edited (in terms of both picture and sound) and filled with brilliant, honest performances, Eighth Grade feels like it has captured the zeitgeist of the current teenage generation. This is a generation consumed by Instagram and Snapchat, rather than Facebook and Twitter. Both Bo Burnham and Elsie Fisher have very promising film careers ahead of them.

Pros

• The script is exceptional; the dialogue is incredibly naturalistic and the comedy is cringe-worthy in an awkward, adolescent way.
• Some excellent use of editing and sound design.
• Elsie Fisher’s Kayla is a teenager who feels completely real.
• Burnham gives the film a strong, docu-drama vibe that adds to the sense of authenticity.
• The film is a very intimate study of the experience of Generation Z in the USA.
• Kayla’s hilarious attempt to hide from her father the real reason that she’s holding a banana in her hand …
• Framing Kayla’s emotional journey through YouTube videos that she records is a clever way of juxtaposing who Kayla is, and who she wants to be.

Cons

• The film’s docu-drama aesthetic means that Eighth Grade doesn’t feel exceptionally cinematic.

In a nutshell …

For a feature film debut, Bo Burnham has produced a masterpiece. More than any other film that has been made about Generation Z so far, Eighth Grade has an honesty in its character study that is difficult to capture. Eighth Grade is the raw experience of adolescence, acne and all.