Eighth Grade
Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan
Directed by Bo Burnham
Reviewed by Michael Dalton
5/5
This week in The New Yorker, film critic Richard Brody analysed the Academy Award nominations and acutely observed that the film Roma, an over-praised Best Picture candidate, “gives Hollywood a chance to pay homage to domestic workers without actually having to listen to what they have to say”. It’s a shame that this week Hollywood didn’t pay homage to Bo Burnham’s insightful Eighth Grade, a film about a girl in her last week before graduation. It’s just as timely and just as topical. Here is a film that not only has something to say, but actually listens to its subject, intensely. It tells the story of Kayla who, to the rest of the world, is invisible. She’s never bullied or laughed at nor is she made to feel as if she’s less than she is. It’s simply that she doesn’t register in the eyes or minds of her classmates.
It would’ve been so easy for Burnham to make Kayla pathetic but this girl, as passive and full of anxiety as she is, has some sense of self-worth and inner strength. She’s unsure of her father’s opinion of her (beautiful work by Josh Hamilton), she puts up motivational videos on YouTube (they’re virtually ignored), wins the “Most Quiet” award at school, has a major crush on the class heartthrob who questions her finesse at blowjobs (she searches for an on-line instructional video and is so disgusted she quickly turns it off), and attends a birthday party for an indifferent classmate. Invited at the firm request of the birthday girl’s mother, she dithers after pulling on her swimsuit, suffers an anxiety attack, eventually joins the party where she meets the eccentric Gabe (a wonderful Jake Ryan), and gives the birthday girl the “wrong” gift; watch Kayla try to “sell” it. Soon after, Kayla goes to a high school shadow program (an induction day) and meets Olivia (Emily Robinson), a vivacious, friendly twelfth grader, who later invites Kayla to join her and a few friends at the mall. Olivia and her friends talk candidly and Kayla listens agog, as if she’s learning a new tongue.
There is little in Burnham’s narrative to stun or shock. Eighth Grade isn’t that kind of a film. Burnham is infinitely more concerned with the “doing” and how Kayla strives to prepare her future. According to Eighth Grade, Facebook is no longer a “thing”. Its done and dusted. Instagram and Snapchat are the only platforms now and Kayla, determined to stay current, makes her home at both. Social Media is held fast by kids today and Burnham drives the point home that they’re hypnotised. Watch when Kayla tries to get the attention of two of the coolest girls in her class. She can’t compete. Their phones hold them in a vice-like grip.
The film’s success however, aside from its insightful screenplay, is largely due to the startling, delicate work by Elsie Fisher. With her wide face and unsure walk, Fisher takes us on a journey. Burnham has commented recently how much the Internet is violating the self-image of today’s youth. Hardly news granted, but in Eighth Grade, he projects the issue as a battle cry for the thousands of girls and boys just like Kayla who feel awkward and unimportant. As Kayla realises, it may not have happened for her this year but next year will be another story. This outstanding effort should be mandatory viewing in schools everywhere. It is an exceptional film.
