Eighth Grade (2018)

Being a teenager is tough. In between all the hormonal changes and growth spurts, you have to deal with developing emotions, friendships and even more. Your life can vary from dull to scary to joyous, sometimes within the space of a single day. The subject of life at this indescribable age has inspired some of the most relatable and enjoyable films ever made. However, it’s also responsible for a lot of hilariously inaccurate, wholly disingenuous content.

Eighth Grade, the directorial debut of acclaimed comedian Bo Burnham, represents something of a revolution in the coming-of-age genre. Despite its low budget and cast of mostly unknown actors, it manages to deliver one of the most authentic and brutally honest depictions of teenage life ever committed to film.

Elsie Fisher completely inhabits the character of 13-year-old Kayla Day, delivering one of the greatest young performances of all time and one of the greatest performances - full stop - of 2018. I honestly couldn’t see any other actor playing this role, just as I couldn’t see anyone else taking on the role of her father, which Josh Hamilton absolutely owns. Every aspect of the film is grounded in situations and feelings that are highly relatable and realistic. This makes for numerous scenes that are excruciatingly hard to watch, including (but certainly not limited to) the now infamous car scene.

This sense of relatability is evident from the film's opening moments, in which Kayla films one of her many advice videos that she uploads to her YouTube channel. The close-up shot panning across the view counts of her videos rings true to anyone who's ever tried making YouTube videos at a young age. Instead of making Kayla’s dialogue confident and effortless, like in more idealistic films such as Juno (2007), Burnham leaves all of her moments of indecisiveness inside the screenplay. All of the ‘ums’, ‘ers’, and ‘likes’ that are all too familiar to most teenagers are showcased in full clarity, delivering a scene that is so realistic that you could easily mistake it for improvisation.

Kayla, unlike most generic teen protagonists, is portrayed in an authentic and genuine way. She is not drenched in makeup and she isn’t made to look like the prettiest girl in the world, which allows us to empathise with her on a much deeper level. The film’s vibrant cinematography invites us into both the comfort and despair of Kayla’s life. In the film’s most euphoric moments, the shots are bright and colourful with lens flares to suit the mood of the scene. In its more hopeless moments, the lighting is low-key, dark and filled with despair.

Anna Meredith crafts a dream-like, wondrous score that punctuates a number of the film’s greatest scenes. The song ‘Nautilus’ brilliantly juxtaposes feelings of excitement with fear and dread to reflect Kayla’s emotions perfectly during the pool scene.

However, it’s the lack of music that makes for what is undoubtedly the film’s most heart-wrenching scene. If you haven’t seen Eighth Grade yet, you’re seriously missing out on one of the greatest films of this decade. Regardless, the scene (no spoilers here) involves a fireside conversation between Kayla and her father that goes from solemn to gloriously uplifting in the space of 3 minutes.

To say that you cried while watching a film is quite a common sentiment in the modern age. People claim to burst into tears during a wide variety of films, be they joyous or downbeat in tone. Personally, I had never experienced a moment like that. I’m often emotionally moved by films, and two in particular brought me just a hair away from tearing up (Your Name (2016) and Grave of the Fireflies (1988)). However, part of why Eighth Grade means so much to me personally is that it was, and still is the only film that has ever made me cry whilst watching.

Most importantly, Eighth Grade came to me at a time in my life when I needed it most. A time when Kayla’s struggles truly resonated with me. It left me in a state of amazement, feeling excited and hopeful for the future. Evidently, I’m not alone on this opinion. One click on the film’s Letterboxd page brings you into a whirlwind of nearly unanimous praise that I think is entirely deserved.

Finally, allow me to rant a little about the film’s UK release strategy. Though it was released in the US way back in July 2018, it took another 9 months before it finally landed in the UK on 26th April, 2019 - the same day Avengers: Endgame annihilated the box office. Though this release strategy could’ve been seen as counterprogramming by Sony Pictures (the film’s UK distributor), I think it only hindered the film’s box office potential in the UK, especially to the film’s target audience - young teenagers (some of whom weren’t old enough to see it - but that’s another story altogether).

If you live in the UK and you missed out on Eighth Grade whilst it was in cinemas, I don’t blame you. I think Sony did the film a disservice by releasing it on the same weekend as the year’s biggest moviegoer magnet. However, if you’re interested, I implore you to check the film out as soon as you can. You’ll be supporting both an astounding debut feature and another standout entry in the library of A24, who are continually proving themselves to be the definitive production studio for bold and uncompromising indie cinema.

Bo Burnham has crafted a film that completely understands modern teenagers and the struggles they face. Its portrayal of universal themes such as self-confidence and anxiety gives it the potential to resonate with anyone who’s ever been in Kayla’s position before. Which, judging by the film’s reviews, is a lot of people. It’s my favourite film to be released in the UK this year and I honestly don’t see anything else beating it. It's absolutely masterful.