Eighth Grade (2018)

"Eighth grade is the worst."

I can still remember being in middle school. I went to a K-6 school, and transferred to a 7-8 school. My two years there felt like an eternity, as time does when you are very young. I remember stupid jokes, hating gym class, and that time all the girls got tongue piercings, because they were the cool thing. It was, to say the least, an interesting time. When I heard that comedian Bo Burnham had made his directorial debut (he wrote the film, also), my interest was piqued. When I saw that his little indie film was playing at my local theater (which very rarely EVER gets indie properties), I knew I had to see it. So I did.

Summary:

It is Kayla Day's last week as an eighth grader. She makes Youtube videos that no one watches, and spends most of her free time in the darkness, illuminated by the light of her phone or laptop. We're going to spend some time with Kayla.

Pros:

Music: The music is this movie is wonderful. Anna Meredith's score unique, and awkward, just like the film's protagonist. One of my favorite musical moments: Whenever Kayla's crush appears onscreen, we get a loud, pumping, dubstep assault, juxtaposed with her hapless face staring at him across the room. It manages the capture the weirdness and all-encompassing nature of having a crush at that age. You can't look away; you don't know how. Much of this movie is about a person who doesn't know how to do what she needs to do.

Wonderfully Photographed: Andrew Wehde pulls photo duties on this one, and crafts a really lovely film. The way the camera stays on the back of Kayla's head as she awkwardly walks anywhere; the way we see Kayla's face framed in the crowd; the way Kayla's eyes peer over the back of a bus seat. There is one shot of everyone in an auditorium that I really liked: Wehde sets the shot up with the rows of seats in diagonals slicing perfectly across the frame. This film is visually striking and appealing.

An Intimate Portrait: This is slice of life cinema at its finest, and the movie offers us a terribly true, heart-rending, wriggle-in-your-seat, groan-inducing look at one girl's journey through one of the most awkward times in life. Burnham's script is funny and sad and shocking and strange. Ya know, it's eighth grade.

Breakout Performance: Fifteen year old Elsie Fisher anchors this movie as Kayla. I believe she is onscreen the entire time, and she gives the performance of a lifetime. She never feels contrived (unless the character is being contrived, which she does, a lot), or actor-y. You can read a journey in her blue-lit blank stare, swiping through photos on social media. She tells a story with her fake smiles, and whispered word responses in social situations, eyes darting from person to person, like a tennis spectator. She puts on a mask of positivity when she makes her Youtube videos. Her words come tumbling out of her mouth half-formed, immediately abandoned, padded with "likes," and "umms," and very nearly meaningless. The hype, surrounding this young actor, is real. The actor who plays her father, Josh Hamilton, mirrors her cadence and speech patterns: it makes them feel like a father/daughter duo in a really affecting manner. He, an older man, is just as awkward and strange as she is. He's a single dad trying his best, and your heart aches for him, too. Hamilton is every goofy dad that just wants their daughter to love themselves as much as he loves them.

So Connected, So Lonely: Social media has connected us in ways that were hithertofore impossible. The internet, and everyone on it, is there for us, 24/7. But, in a world where everyone is connected, there are still people who find themselves shockingly alone. Kayla is one such person. No one watches her Youtube videos. She follows hundreds of people on Snapchat ("No one is on Facebook anymore," a character says, snidely), but probably has very few followers herself. She manufactures selfies with lighting and angles and poses. Her artifice is real and is reflected in the fact that she literally does not have the words to function in a social society. All she sees, all day long, are pictures of other, cooler people. She doesn't know how to talk genuinely, because she isn't seeing that kind of talk. She views her life through filters and emojiis and kissy-faces and broad, fake, smiles. When I was a kid, my life was miserable, but I manufactured my own fun by escaping into books and movies and TV. I get the sense that Kayla escapes into the illusion of other people's happy lives. She escapes onto Social Media. It's curious, because she seems to know that she's faking it, but hasn't yet arrived at the conclusion that EVERYONE else it, too. There have been many attempts at showing the "evils" of social media, but I think Burnham shows us the real cost: our children are growing up in a world of artifice, and their identities, and senses of self, are suffering for it.

Age Appropriate Casting: It's a little thing, sure, but seeing REAL middle schoolers and REAL high schoolers in a film about the lives of tweens and teens is a breath of fresh air.

Doesn't Overstay Its Welcome: At 93 minutes, you'd be hard pressed to say that this film wastes your time. It is a tight little package that gives you enough to chew on, without bemoaning the point.

No Happy Ending, but The Possibility of One: This movie doesn't radically change Kayla's life. She isn't a hero, or a conquering social butterfly. But, by the film's end you have the distinct impression that things are getting better. That things might be better for her, because of changes she begins to make in her life. Her arc feels natural and earned, and not Hollywood fake. There are subtle changes in the way that Kayla speaks to herself in her final video that give us hope that she's reached a turning point. So many films rush to get us to an ending. Burnham gets to a turning point, and lets us imagine the end that Kayla might get to. I like that better.

Cons:

This is How They Talk: I teach high school, and spent a few years as a teacher in middle school, and I can say that Burnham's dialogue is spot on. However, I am sure that the dialogue in this film might enrage some viewers. Just know that it's real. All of those "likes" and "umms" are their mouths giving pause for their brains to catch up. All of that awkward hyper-sexual filth is young people's attempt at being mature, at an age when they are anything but. Kids are casually cruel to each other. Burnham's film captures all of this. You might not like it.

No Real Plot: This film is a series of things that happen, but features no real grand scheme. I mentioned above that this is slice of life film. This is a character study. You might not like that.

In Conclusion:

I was shocked that this film even made it to Visalia. We don't get these kinds of movies. I am a fan of Burnham's comedy, and was curious about the hype for this film. I can say that I really enjoyed it. It rang true to me in a way that so many movies of its ilk do not.

Should You Watch It?

Yes, Elsie Fisher is a revelation, and Burnham knocks his debut out of the park.

Miscellany:

- Burnham's original script featured Facebook as the dominant social medium. Elsie Fisher told him, point blank, "no one uses Facebook." He changed the script, and added the line into the film.

- Apple was originally approached to provide laptops and phones for the shoot. They did not like the scene where Kayla throws her phone and it breaks, however. Burnham used the laptops and phones of crew members instead.