Eighth Grade is the newest film from A24, and is the debut for stand-up comedian turned writer/director Bo Burnham. In this film, Burnham shows us the last week of the eighth grade for an introverted girl named Kayla, navigating the struggles of adolescence is today's society and the fear of making the leap to high school.
Kayla is played by young newcomer Elsie Fisher, and the casting is perfect. Elsie is an absolute delight to see onscreen, portraying the awkwardness of her character exceptionally well. There are moments where her character can be a bit annoying, but in all the right ways as most eighth graders are. There are also really emotional moments late in the film that she pulls of really well. The first scene in the film is her making a youtube video which is really awkward and that will instantly show you her character. Her dad is played by Josh Hamilton, and as much as Elsie was great I think he was even more of a standout. You can clearly see his struggle in trying to connect with his daughter as she grows old, and Kayla's mom left when she was young so he's doing all the parenting. He has a ton of charm and the lengths he goes to in making his daughter happy are a treat to watch. One scene that struck me was one at a dinner table where Kayla was on her phone with headphones in and her dad was just trying to make conversation to no avail, as it showed how disconnected the two can be. There are also many moments however where you see Kayla confide in her dad and makes their relationship feel very genuine. The rest of the cast is a large ensemble of young adults, none doing anything overly exceptional in terms of acting but all serving their roles well enough to drive the film forward nicely.
In terms of Bo Burnham's work I am quite impressed. I initially wasn't sure how I felt about him directing, but then I saw how passionate for film he is, and my tune was completely changed. While there are definitely aspects he can work on to improve, this is a fantastic debut outing. This script is fantastic, it is full of clever dialogue and so clearly has a grasp on what middle school is like nowadays. From kids always being on their phones to one kid shouting "Lebron James" at every assembly, Burnham shows that he understands this demographic very well, and creates a cast of characters that you can probably assign to people you were in the eighth grade with. Every class has the annoying popular girls that do nothing but take selfies, the guy that wears gym shorts and a basketball jersey every day because he thinks he's cool, and the introverts like Kayla. Burnham also excellently shows the cringiness of eighth graders. This film is incredibly awkward, but it needs to be due to what it is, and that works beautifully. There aren't a ton of wildly impressive technical elements but some stood out for me. The sound design as a whole is really impressive, but especially in certain scenes. In scenes that Kayla is under a lot of pressure or looking at a cute guy, the sound design and cinematography are both wildly exaggerated to show how kids around this age see certain things and it works beautifully and hilariously. As for where the film struggles, it doesn't have its tone and pacing down. Since the pacing never finds its groove moments in the film can't find their groove and fall flat. It doesn't happen often but when it does it limits the film's momentum. Later in the film there are two really tense/emotional scenes that are very good, but aren't transitioned into as well as they could be, as they contrast from the fun brightness of most of the movie. This film has been compared to Lady Bird a lot, due to the same distribution company and similar style of coming of age story. I personally prefer Lady Bird, as I related to a bit more due to where I am in life, and as a film overall its more polished and refined with stronger emotional tones. So while this wasn't like Lady Bird where I easily could have spent another couple of hours with its characters, this is still a pretty great film, touching on a lot of things that many people will connect with. It's a very impressive debut and I can't wait to see more from Burnham.
Rating: 4.2/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
Kayla is played by young newcomer Elsie Fisher, and the casting is perfect. Elsie is an absolute delight to see onscreen, portraying the awkwardness of her character exceptionally well. There are moments where her character can be a bit annoying, but in all the right ways as most eighth graders are. There are also really emotional moments late in the film that she pulls of really well. The first scene in the film is her making a youtube video which is really awkward and that will instantly show you her character. Her dad is played by Josh Hamilton, and as much as Elsie was great I think he was even more of a standout. You can clearly see his struggle in trying to connect with his daughter as she grows old, and Kayla's mom left when she was young so he's doing all the parenting. He has a ton of charm and the lengths he goes to in making his daughter happy are a treat to watch. One scene that struck me was one at a dinner table where Kayla was on her phone with headphones in and her dad was just trying to make conversation to no avail, as it showed how disconnected the two can be. There are also many moments however where you see Kayla confide in her dad and makes their relationship feel very genuine. The rest of the cast is a large ensemble of young adults, none doing anything overly exceptional in terms of acting but all serving their roles well enough to drive the film forward nicely.
In terms of Bo Burnham's work I am quite impressed. I initially wasn't sure how I felt about him directing, but then I saw how passionate for film he is, and my tune was completely changed. While there are definitely aspects he can work on to improve, this is a fantastic debut outing. This script is fantastic, it is full of clever dialogue and so clearly has a grasp on what middle school is like nowadays. From kids always being on their phones to one kid shouting "Lebron James" at every assembly, Burnham shows that he understands this demographic very well, and creates a cast of characters that you can probably assign to people you were in the eighth grade with. Every class has the annoying popular girls that do nothing but take selfies, the guy that wears gym shorts and a basketball jersey every day because he thinks he's cool, and the introverts like Kayla. Burnham also excellently shows the cringiness of eighth graders. This film is incredibly awkward, but it needs to be due to what it is, and that works beautifully. There aren't a ton of wildly impressive technical elements but some stood out for me. The sound design as a whole is really impressive, but especially in certain scenes. In scenes that Kayla is under a lot of pressure or looking at a cute guy, the sound design and cinematography are both wildly exaggerated to show how kids around this age see certain things and it works beautifully and hilariously. As for where the film struggles, it doesn't have its tone and pacing down. Since the pacing never finds its groove moments in the film can't find their groove and fall flat. It doesn't happen often but when it does it limits the film's momentum. Later in the film there are two really tense/emotional scenes that are very good, but aren't transitioned into as well as they could be, as they contrast from the fun brightness of most of the movie. This film has been compared to Lady Bird a lot, due to the same distribution company and similar style of coming of age story. I personally prefer Lady Bird, as I related to a bit more due to where I am in life, and as a film overall its more polished and refined with stronger emotional tones. So while this wasn't like Lady Bird where I easily could have spent another couple of hours with its characters, this is still a pretty great film, touching on a lot of things that many people will connect with. It's a very impressive debut and I can't wait to see more from Burnham.
Rating: 4.2/5
Written by Matt McKenzie
Comments
Post a Comment