Film preview: ‘Eighth Grade’

Movies about adolescence tend to depict their worlds through
the distancing prism of exaggeration, nostalgia, fantasy, or uptight
moralizing. Being a teenager sucks for the vast majority of us, so it makes
sense that audiences prefer entertainment that shows us how we’d like to
remember the experience more than how it actually was. As a result, there
aren’t many movies that get it honestly and truly right.

“Eighth
Grade” is one of the special ones. It doesn’t provide a rosy-eyed view of youth
culture — at times it’s as anxiety-inducing as the most suspenseful thriller.
It’s sometimes hilarious, but also wise, warm, and endlessly empathetic.

The film
follows a shy 13-year-old named Kayla Day (the phenomenal Elsie Fisher),
through the last week of eighth grade as she begins preparing for the big,
terrifying world of high school. Kayla isn’t part of the popular crowd; she’s
not part of any crowd really. She’s hopelessly self-conscious and perpetually
tongue-tied around her classmates, who are mostly content to ignore her
completely. But she desperately wants to be seen as cool and earn the
friendship of the popular girls in her grade or the attention of her crush
object, Aiden (Luke Prael).

At school Kayla
seems a hopeless case, but at home it’s a different story entirely. There, she
records self-help videos for her YouTube channel, cheerfully dispensing life
advice on subjects such as “gaining confidence” and “being yourself.” As we
observe her awkward interactions with her peers, it seems the guidance she’s
providing is more for herself than anyone else (a fact that her nonexistent
viewership seems to confirm). After all, advice can be hard to take, even when
it’s coming from your own head.

The
directorial debut of 27-year-old musician and comedian Bo Burnham, “Eighth
Grade” understands that middle school is a nightmare for most everyone, though
we all miraculously fumbled through it.

Burnham got
his start making his own videos on YouTube in the site’s early days, and he has
a keen understanding of the ways people interact with the internet. He’s
intrigued by the role of social media and the way its existence can heighten
and distort teenage insecurities. At the same time, he doesn’t fall into the
trap of demonizing the internet completely.

There are
certainly good things about the web, including helping a young girl figure out
who she truly is. Burnham doesn’t see Kayla’s falsely idealized online persona
as negative, but aspirational: it’s about trying on the version of herself that
she one day hopes to be.

At the heart
of the film is Kayla’s prickly relationship with her single father, Mark (Josh
Hamilton). The two actors share a believable father-daughter chemistry: he
makes every attempt to ensure his daughter knows she’s loved and supported;
she’s embarrassed and enraged by every word that comes out of his mouth. The
film never depicts Mark as incompetent — quite the contrary — but recognizes
he’s facing a nearly impossible battle. An underrated character actor, Hamilton
is wonderful in the role, and he’s rewarded with a late-in-the-film speech that
ranks alongside Michael Stuhlbarg’s justly heralded
monologue at the end of “Call Me By Your Name” in terms of inspirational
parenting.

Even though
I (thankfully) never had to endure being on social media as a teen, I found
myself wincing in painful recognition at many of the situations Kayla finds
herself in (the depiction of her experience at a popular girl’s pool party
practically gave me PTSD). Burnham’s viewpoint isn’t mean-spirited, and he
never leans into the discomfort. I also can’t recall another film as adept at
capturing the rhythm of teenage speech, the awkward, halting patterns that
emerge when you’re searching for the right words to express yourself and too
often coming up short.

As a
filmmaker, Burnham has clear affection for his characters, and proves himself
remarkably adept at putting himself into the mind of a 13-year-old girl. He’s
aided by Elsie Fisher’s pitch-perfect performance. Whether she’s stumbling
through conversations with her classmates, grumpily slouching through dinner
with her father, or confidently advising her imaginary viewers to be their best
selves, her every action is astonishingly assured, even as Kayla is anything
but. She’s so sympathetic and loveable that we can’t help but root for her and
hope that life will treat her kindly.

A sweet,
compassionate, and clear-eyed depiction of adolescence, “Eighth Grade” has
inexplicably been rated R for its language and a hint of sex talk. But parents
shouldn’t avoid letting their kids see it. While it might make for some awkward
conversation afterward (but really, what conversation with a teen isn’t at
least slightly uncomfortable?), I can’t help thinking young people are the
audience who might just benefit from it the most.

This article appears in Aug 1-7, 2018.